


A Little Piece Of Me

by awkwardblogger



Series: This Little Light Of Mine [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety Attacks, Awesome Pepper Potts, Baby Peter Parker, Battle of New York (Marvel), Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Childhood, Chronic Illness, Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Growing Up, Iron Dad, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Kid Peter Parker, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Pepper Potts, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Has Trust Issues, Tony is Peter's Dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-05-29 04:25:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15065105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardblogger/pseuds/awkwardblogger
Summary: A one night stand leads to Tony finding a baby on his doorstep. At first Tony is hesitant, but Afghanistan changes everything for him. Now Tony has turned a new leaf. A leaf with Iron Man and fatherhood.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this Tony is kidnapped in 2005. This follows Peter as he grows up.  
> I know this is a popular trope but I wasn't inspired by another story. If my writing or story starts to get too similar to another story, tell me.  
> No beta. All mistakes are mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been edited 11/3/18

The night didn’t start abnormal. Tony was drinking in his living room while Pepper lectured him on Stark Industries. Tony was bored. The lecture was the same one he got last week, how his reputation could negatively affect the company blah blah blah. The lecture was cut off by a loud knock at the door.

“Jarvis, Who is that?” Pepper asked the AI. “Tony, you better not be giving your address out to groupies!” 

“A Miss Mary Fitzpatrick was at the door. She left something at the door.” Jarvis informed Pepper as she headed to the door.

“Mary...Mary… Oh! The hot scientist from the Gala!” Tony recalled, picturing the young woman.

Pepper made a sound of annoyance before opening the door. Then she gasped. “Tony! Get over here right now!”

“Jeez, what did I do now?” Tony grumbled. When he got to the door however, he understood. On his doorstep stood a car seat for a baby, with a small baby inside of it, an envelope taped to the seat.

“What the fuck?!” Tony shouted, waking the baby‍. 

It woke with a whimper that reminded Pepper of a puppy before it started to softly cry. Pepper grabbed the car seat and brought it inside. She picked up the baby and rocked it as Tony read the letter.

_ Dear Tony, _

_ You probably don’t remember me but I’m Mary Fitzpatrick, soon to be Mary Parker. Ten months ago we met at a charity Gala. I was there with Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I am one of the head scientists there. Normally, what happened between us wouldn’t have happened, but you were handsome and smooth and I had just had a fight with my boyfriend. We slept together and went our separate ways the next morning. But I got pregnant and I know the child is yours. A child would ruin my career right now. I got engaged my boyfriend and while Richard has been very understanding about the whole thing, I still know keeping him isn’t right for me. So, I decided it would be best for the boy, Peter, to be with his father. Good luck. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Mary Fitzpatrick  _

Also inside the envelope was the child’s birth certificate. The baby, Peter Benjamin Stark, was only two days old. But that didn’t really matter to Tony at the time.

Tony was dumbfounded. “No, he can’t be mine! I’m always careful!”

“Stop shouting, Tony! You’re upsetting the baby.” Pepper hissed as she rocked the whining infant. Babies were never her thing, but someone had to soothe it and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Tony. “You can do a DNA test, dummy. They aren’t that difficult.”

Tony gave a sigh of relief. “You’re right.” He then sped off to his lab and returned with a cotton swab, he got some of the baby’s saliva and disappeared back into his lab. Pepper rolled her eyes and looked down at the infant’s large brown eyes. The baby had been irritated by the cotton swab being shoved in his mouth, but Pepper knew this was the quickest way to handle the problem. 

“For your sake, I hope he isn’t your dad.” Pepper muttered to the baby.

It was agreed the baby would stay until Tony had the results of the DNA test Jarvis was running. The baby slept in its car seat and Pepper had diapers delivered. A few hours later, Tony was staring at a screen. Pepper had gone home, leaving Tony with the child, Peter. He put the boy, still in his car seat, in a safe area of the lab. And now, the results were staring him in the face. The kid is his.

“Fuck.”

Two months into having the baby, Peter he kept having to remind himself the baby was named Peter, and Tony was starting to look more closely at his options. He took care of Peter, but it wasn’t something he enjoyed doing and he got furious easily when it came to the baby. He didn’t think of Peter as his son, even knowing Peter was his didn’t help, he only saw the baby as an inconvenience. Adoption was starting to look good when he went to Afghanistan. He hadn’t told anyone besides Pepper and Jarvis about the baby and that wasn’t really a choice. It wasn’t like giving up the child would be a big deal. No one would even have to know! Then, he left for Afghanistan. 

It was February of 2005 that Tony’s life changed. During what should have been a normal test of the new Jericho missile for the United States Air Force, there was an attack that killed the airmen with Tony and Tony was kidnapped. A bomb, one of his bombs, went off and his life was just barely saved. Yinsen, a doctor who had also been taken captive, had saved Tony’s life and befriended him in that hellhole. The bomb had done serious damage, so much so that the only way to save his life was to put an electromagnet in his chest to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart. After being tortured, Tony made a deal with his kidnappers, he promised to make a bomb in exchange for his freedom. Tony of course knew they wouldn’t set him free, but he agreed to find a way to escape. 

For months he worked, telling his kidnappers it was a missile he was building, but it was really a suit and a miniature arc reactor to replace the electromagnet. The whole time he was there however, the thing he’d been trying to ignore in the United States was all he could think about in that little cave. All he could think of was Peter. That tiny little baby that he had would never get to see grow up. The baby, his baby, that he never even gave a chance. He had pushed Peter to the side, putting fatherhood on the back burner. Peter would never know that Tony changed his mind and wanted him. Tony would never get to be a good father, the father Peter deserved. He imagined Peter’s face in his mind all the time. Those round cheeks and big doe eyes. His eyes were always so inquisitive. He wondered how Peter had grown in his absence, who had looked after him. Had Peter been taken away by Child Protective Services? Tony had no way of knowing and it tore him up inside. And in a great twist of irony, the first time Tony told anyone he had a baby, it was Yinsen.

“Do you have a family?” Tony had asked.

“I do and I will see them when I leave here.” Yinsen answered. “And you Stark?”

“A son.” Tony said without thinking. “A little baby, named Peter.”

Yinsen had given him a smile and Tony couldn’t help but smile back. Somehow, it felt good to admit he had a child. After months of hiding it, Tony was proud to be a dad. If you asked him years later, he’d say Afghanistan changed him for the better. 

Escaping hadn’t been easy. Building the arc reactor and the suit had taken time. Yinsen had almost been killed due to all of it. Tony hadn’t realized that he’d grown fond of the man till the moment he saved Yinsen’s life. The people that had taken him, The Ten Rings, demanded to have the Jericho Missile the next day. He spent the night finishing the suit and preparing to get him and Yinsen out of there. Members of the Ten Rings tried to open the door and the bomb went off. They didn’t have enough time so Yinsen went to buy them time. His heart had dropped when Yinsen ran out with a gun. By the time Tony was able to go in his newly made suit, shit had hit the fan. He hit terrorists left in right, knocking them easily to the side. To Tony’s absolute horror, Yinsen had been shot and when Tony got here it was too late to save him. Yinsen telling Tony that dying had always been the plan for him, hurt Tony deeply. He thanked Yinsen for saving him and listened to Yinsent beg him not to waste his life. Then he left his friend, his ally to die.

He deflected bullets with his suit and set the Ten Rings and their weapons on fire. Then, things went south again. Tony was able to make the suit fly away just enough to escape and be safe from the blast. Then he fell and his suit was destroyed. He walked in the desert for who knows how long till he saw a helicopter and was rescued. Rhodey, his best friend, was there and took him back to the states. The whole ride home he thought of two things: Yinsen and Peter.

The second he got back to the States he knew what he wanted. Pepper was there waiting, but Peter was nowhere in sight. They got in the car and Pepper began talking about taking Tony to the hospital.

“No, I’ve been in captivity for three months.There’s three things I want.First is my son and second is a cheeseburger.” Tony began.

Pepper’s jaw dropped. “Peter? You want to see Peter?”

“Yes and that’s first. Where is he?” Tony demanded.

“He’s at my place. A babysitter is watching him. I was in the process of having him adopted.” Pepper explained.

“Then cancel that. He’s my son. He’s staying with me. We get Peter and then we get a cheeseburger and then, I want a press conference.” 

“Wait, Tony has a son?” Happy asked, blinking in surprise.

“Yep, a beautiful baby boy. Now take me to him.” Tony ordered.

They got Peter first and Tony couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face. Happy couldn’t help but gawk at the baby that was apparently the next generation of Stark but quickly hid it. Peter had grown and didn’t recognize Tony at all, but Tony didn't care. He cradled Peter in his arm, refusing to put him in the car seat until they got his cheeseburger. He didn’t take his eyes off his son the whole ride. As they got to the press conference, Obadiah Stane, Tony’s mentor was waiting for them. 

“Happy, take Peter. We don’t need the press seeing him yet. Keep him safe.” Tony order firmly before getting out of the car with his last cheeseburger. Before Obadiah could start, Tony took over. He talked about what he saw in Afghanistan and announced that he was shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of his company. Obie rushed him off the stage as the reporters went crazy. 

After the conference, Tony got into an argument with Obie. He then showed Obie the arc reactor in his chest. Obie got excited but tried to pressure Tony to let Obie handle this. He agreed to lay low. When he got home, he put Peter down for a nap, ordered baby things for Peter and then got Pepper to help him with the arc reactor. He got a better one but needed Pepper’s help. Once it was done, Pepper asked him to never ask her to do it again.

“I don’t have anybody but you and Peter. And Peter’s too young to help me with this.” Tony said with a shrug.

He promised himself that from now on, everything he did would make him a better person and a better father. He had a little boy that only had him in the entire world. He made some people very unhappy, even got in an argument with Rhodey who he thought was his best friend. It proved to him that this road he was on wasn’t an easy one. He started making a new suit with the hope it could do some good and when he wasn’t doing that, he was with Peter. He made sure Peter had the best nursery a baby could ever want. It was bright and lively. His crib, changing table and dresser were beautiful. The room had toys and books as far as the eye could see. Tony found himself reading a picture book to Peter every morning and every night. He fed Peter his bottles and sometimes soft, mushy food. It was gross, but the look on Peter’s face was worth it every time.

His new suit, Mark 2, would have been made sooner if it weren’t for his new found devotion to his son. He wanted to announce to the whole world he was a father, but decided against it. He remembered how awful it was growing up in the spotlight and he didn’t want that for Peter. He wanted a happy childhood for his son, and if he made an enemy out of everyone to do it, he would. In the middle of working on Mark 2 Obie came one day. Peter was sleeping in his crib, so Tony went up to talk to him. He was going to tell Obie, a man who was like an uncle to him, about his son when Obie announced the company was claiming he had post traumatic stress disorder and was filing a junction against him to lock him out. And he was pissed with that, so he went down to the shop. He continued to work and take care of Peter and the baby was coming to associate Tony with safety, warmth and food. He had issues with the suit and surprisingly parenthood was the easiest of the two to learn and manage. 

He did his first flight after about a month and it was amazing. With Jarvis in the suit it was easy to work with and control. It wasn’t until he got too high and ice build up, causing a malfunction in the suit that he went down. He managed to break the ice and got home, only he made a hole in his home. The car alarms woke Peter, causing Tony to deal with his scared, screaming son before anything else. Once Peter was calm, he took Peter down to the lab and saw the gift from Pepper.

“You see that Petey? It’s proof your old man has a heart.” Tony cooed to the infant in his arms.

He then worked on his suit before seeing that his benefit was happening without him.

“Jarvis, did we get an invite for that?” Tony asked. 

“I have no record of an invitation sir.” Jarvis replied.

When the reporter stated no one expected to see him, he smirked. “Jarvis, Peter’s sleeping in the nursery. Take care of him. I’ve got a benefit to attend.”

He arrived to the benefit with the smirk still firmly on his face. He walked past many reporters, greated Hugh Hefner and walked up to Obie. 

“What has the world come to that a man’s gotta crash his own event?” Tony said quietly to Obie.    
“Look at you.” Obadiah clearly wasn’t expecting him.

“I’ll see you inside.”

“Take it slow. I think we’ve got the board right where we want them.” Obie said.

“Got it. It’s just cabin fever.” Tony said, it wasn’t even close to how on point that was. 

He went over to Pepper to flirt. She looked beautiful and he’d been even more attracted to her than normal as she’d been helping him with Peter. They had their usual banter as they danced and it was nice. They went out for some air and bantered some more. Pepper was nervous people would think they were sleeping together so he went to get drinks for Pepper. While getting drinks he ran into a reporter, one he had slept with before, Christine Everhart. Then he heard about what Stark Industries was doing in Gulmira and he was pissed. He confronted Obie and he realized that Obie was the one who filed the injunction and the first thought he had was how glad he was that he didn’t tell Obie about Peter. He went home and held Peter, kissing his head and thinking about how lucky he was that Obie didn’t know about his baby. He worked on his suit, listening to the news about Gulmira. Something had to be done. He damaged his lab testing his suit and than suited up, ready to  be the person to do something.

“Jarvis, have Pepper look after Peter for me. Tell her it’s urgent.” Tony said and with that, he flew off to Gulmira. When, he arrived, it was a war zone with families caught in the middle. He arrived just in time to stop a man from being sho. He broke it up, killing the members of the Ten Rings and protecting the people. When he saw a son run to his father, embracing him, he thought of his own son who had come close to losing his father in the past too. Then he grabbed the last member in the village and threw him to the villagers to handle. Then he started flying home, only to be shot out of the sky.

“Fuck!” He cried as he went down, then blew up the tank that shot him down. 

He took out the missiles, leaving the Ten Rings without weapons in Gulmira. He started flying home again, thinking about taking his son and holding him close for at least an hour. When the United States Air Force took notice and sent planes his way, he got a call from Rhodey. Rhodey asked for his help, but Tony was still bitter about what happened when Tony tried to talk to Rhodey earlier so he declined.

“Just tell me if you got any tech that I should no about.” Rhodey huffed.

“Nope. Nada.” Tony lied.

“Good, because we’re about to shoot it to high heaven.” Rhodey said and hung up.

They started shooting at him, just like Rhodey said and Tony struggled to stay up. Then he called Rhodey back.

“Hi Rhodey it's me.”

“Who?” Rhodey asked sarcastically.

“Me. You asked if I had anything out there and I lied.” Tony admitted.

Rhodey began chewing him out. “You don’t send civilian equipment into a warzone.”

“It’s not a piece of equipment its a suit! It’s me!”

He clung to the plane and they shook him off, sending him into the other plane and damaging it. He airmen went down and Tony went after him and got his parachute out for him and then flew away.

“Tony, you still there?”

“Yeah thanks.”

“You crazy son of a bitch. You owe me a plane, you know that?”

“Yeah well technically he hit me.” Tony teased. “Now you gonna come by and see what I’m working on?”

“No, the less I know the better. Now what am I gonna tell the press?”

“Training exercise.”

To Tony’s amusement, that’s exactly what they did. When he got home, Pepper came down on him getting the suit off.

“What’s going on here?” Pepper gasped

“Let’s face it. This isn’t the worst thing you caught me doing.” Tony joked.

“Are those bullet holes?” Pepper breathed, looking terrified. 

Tony soothed her worries, getting the suit off and then went to check on Peter. Peter was wide awake in his playpen, his rattle in his mouth.   
“Hey Petey-Pie, Daddy’s back. Were you good for Pepper?” Tony asked, scooping up Peter in his arms.

Peter smiled and dropped the rattle. The drooling sixth month old was unaware of all that was going on, the danger his father was in. All Peter knew was that he was safe and warm in Tony’s arms. He held Peter, bouncing him and cooing at him before putting him down to go back to his shop. Then, Tony sent Pepper on some errands. First he needed her to go to Stark Industries and hack into it, they’d been dealing under the table and Tony wanted those weapons osut of enemy hands. At first Pepper tried to argue, but Tony shot it down, making it clear that this was it from now on. And she said she quit.

“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefit of destruction and now that I’m trying to protect the people I put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?”

“You’re gonna kill yourself Tony, and leave your baby all alone. And I’m not gonna be apart of it.” Pepper went for the low blow, bringing up Peter. 

“I shouldn’t be alive. Unless it was for a reason. I’m not crazy Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it’s right. And I know if I die doing this, that Peter will grow up knowing his father died trying to right the wrongs that happened by his own hands.” Tony said firmly.

Pepper took a deep breath and agreed to do it. “Okay, then what’s the other errand?” She asked.

“When you have time I need you to help me find a pediatrician for Peter. Someone who will keep it quiet.” Tony told her, causing her to laugh.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, with what the first errand was I expected the second to be more extreme. I’ll get on it right after this.” She smiled and left.

Pepper went to Stark Industries to hack the mainframe and Tony went to Peter’s nursery and played with Peter some more before feeding him. Peter made a mess eating his squash like he usually did and Tony just grinned at his son, letting him get him dirty as well. He then cleaned them both up and set Peter down for his nap. While in his living room he got a call from Pepper. When he went to pick it up, Obie paralyzed him and did what every movie villain did and explained his evil plan. He ripped out the arc reactor from Tony’s chest and continued to talk about how beautiful it was and how it was his legacy, it would create so many weapons. He threatened Pepper and left. As soon as he could move, Tony rushed to the shop. All he could think about was Pepper, Obadiah was gonna kill Pepper. He crawled to the original arc reactor, trying desperately to grab it and fell. Then Dummy gave it to him. 

“Good boy.” Tony praised before smashing the frame and installing the arc reactor. He heard Rhodey yelling and then Rhodey came down to his shop.

“Where’s Pepper?” He demanded.

“She’s fine. She’s with five agents, they're about to arrest Obadiah right now.” Rhodey told his friend.

“That’s not gonna be enough.” Tony whispered. 

He let Rhodey help him up and then rushed to his suit. Rhodey was gawking at him when Peter’s cry filled the house.

“What the hell?” Rhodey asked.

“That’s Peter, my son. I gotta go, I gotta stop Obadiah. Rhodey, please, stay here and take care of Peter.” 

“Your son? When did you have a son? Why didn’t you tell me?” Rhodey demanded.

“When the hell was I supposed to tell you Rhodey? This is the first time we’ve talked about anything other than my suit sense I got back! Now stay here and take care of my son!” And with that, he was off.

He made it just in time to stop Obadah from hurting anyone. Then there was a long fight and with the help of Pepper, they killed Obadiah. The first thing he did when he go home was cuddle his baby. The night had been beyond overwhelming and while he was holding his son, he could at least pretend the world was a better place than it truly is. The next morning he had a press conference, he wasn’t supposed to take any questions. It didn’t stop Christine Everhart however and it frustrated Tony. So, he abandoned the cards.

“I am Iron Man.” 

And then he left. 

“Tony what the hell?” Pepper hissed as he exited the doors.

“Didn’t feel like lying. Where’s Peter?” He asked.

“Really, you’re just gonna go hide away in Peter’s nursery after causing that shit storm?” Pepper demanded.

“Yep. See you later Pepper!”

“Tony!” She cried after him, huffing in annoyance.

Tony spent all day with Peter, ignoring the backlash of his announcement. Peter didn’t mind, the baby was happy to spend time with his dad. Midway through the day, Rhodey came into the nursery.

“So, I realized you were right last night. I didn’t give you time to tell me about Peter. Because you weren’t making weapons anymore, I basically tuned you out. I’m sorry.” Rhodey apologized.

“Apology accepted.” Tony said stiffly.

“Who’s his mother?” Rhodey asked, coming closer to the child on the floor. Peter was currently playing with blocks, mostly just waving them around.

“A scientist I met at a Gala. She dropped him at my doorstep with his birth certificate and a letter signing away her parental rights.” Tony admitted, watching Peter with a smile.

“How old is he? I’m guessing you got him after Afghanistan.”

“No, I got him two months before. He’s six and a half months old, but it wasn’t till I was in that cave, thinking I’d never seen him again that I knew I wanted him.” 

Rhodey nodded slowly and looked again at Peter. “Hi Peter, I’m your uncle Rhodey. I’m gonna be the guy that makes fun of your dad with you when you grow up.”

“Hey! Peter would never make fun of me!” Tony cried with a mock gasp.

“Sure he wouldn’t. Just wait till he’s a teenager.” Rhodey said with a mischievous grin.

And life went on. Pepper found a pediatrician for Peter, one of the best in the area who agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement. Peter was growing well and apparently was showing high intelligence for his age. This made Tony beam with pride. He spent the first couple months after his announcement ignoring questions about being Iron Man and doing missions. He spent a lot of time with Peter, still hiding his son from the public. As Peter grew, it became increasingly obvious that he was bright for his age and Tony feared putting his son in the spotlight would only add pressure for Peter, making Peter feel like he had to follow in Tony’s footsteps. Peter was crawling at seven months and started talking at nine months; his first word being “dada”. Then, when Peter was ten months old, a member of the paparazzi got a picture of Tony getting into his car holding Peter. Peter’s head was buried in Tony’s chest, so all they saw was his hair, but the media went wild with it.

“You don’t have to address this, Tony.” Pepper told him.

“Yes I do. I don’t want Peter growing up thinking I’m ashamed of him.” Tony said firmly.

“But I thought you didn’t want him in the public eye.” Pepper reminded him.

“And he won’t. I’ll just acknowledge that I have a child and want him growing up out of the public eye.” And that’s exactly what Tony did at the press conference.

Of course they wanted to see his face, know his name, know who his mother was. The press wanted to know everything, but Tony kept it under lock and key. Peter wasn’t anyone’s business but his and maybe Pepper’s. Tony and Pepper were growing closer and Pepper was somewhat of a mother figure to Peter. Peter took his first steps when he was eleven months old and by the time Peter’s first birthday rolled around, Pepper was just as attached to Peter as Tony was, only she didn’t admit it. For Peter’s birthday, Tony had cupcakes ordered from his favorite bakery and invited Rhodey, Happy and Pepper over for a celebration. Tony got Peter a ton of toys and let Jarvis sing Happy birthday with them before Peter tore into the cupcake. It was a huge mess but seeing the smile on Peter’s face made it all worth it.

“Happy Birthday, Little guy.” Tony whispered once Peter was down for his afternoon nap.

Tony placed a kiss to Peter’s forehead and watched his son sleep, knowing that his son’s future was bright. And if he had nothing else, that would be enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter becomes a toddler while Tony tries to clean up the mess Obadiah made of Stark Industries. Pepper finds herself growing closer to Tony and seeing Peter as more than Tony's son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to having changed the timeline, this won't be following Iron 2 as closely as Chapter 1 followed Iron Man 1. I know in the films Tony doesn't start having anxiety attacks until Iron Man 3, but this is my story and I thought it fit here.  
> This chapter was edited. 11/3/18

As Tony tried to fix up Stark Industries, some things became obvious. The first of which, was his palladium poisoning. He needed the arc reactor and couldn’t find anything to replace the palladium, so he accepted his fate. The veins on his chest started to stick out more and he began to feel overheated and queasy most of the time. He didn’t know how long he had, but he decided to make the best of what time he did have. It truly went to show how much being a father had changed him for the better that he told Rhodey and Pepper about the palladium poisoning. If he didn’t have Peter, he truly believed he would have kept it to himself. He made a will so when he died Peter and Pepper would be taken care of and finally asked Pepper out on a date. To his immense surprise and glee, she agreed. They stared a slow but functional relationship and both of them were happy. Pepper, who had never wanted children and hadn’t really been big on babies, found herself looking at Peter in a maternal light. The toddler followed around his dad and only mother figure every chance he got.

Before Peter was two years old Peter’s pediatrician told Tony that Peter was quite intelligent for his age and might grow up to have an above average IQ. Tony had been so proud he bought Peter ice cream and bought him a teddy bear just small enough to fit in Peter’s nursery. Pepper joked that Peter would be the most spoiled child in history but Tony knew deep in his heart that no matter what Peter would grow up knowing his father loved him and that was more than Tony got. It didn’t mean much but it was a start. 

He spent Peter’s second birthday much like his first. The toddler was giddy, he squealed as he tried to eat the cupcake. Tony couldn’t help the smile that threatened to split his face open from its intensity. He was surrounded by people who cared about him and Peter had a birthday with only people who loved him, something Tony didn’t have as a child. Howard Stark had been a pretty good example of what  **not** to do as a parent and the rest he figured out as he went on. Peter got more gifts than last year, but all were age appropriate and something he knew his son would enjoy.

Rhodey and Pepper now joked that being a father made him a better person, something he never would have pictured hearing when he first got Peter. He focused the company more on clean energy, prosthetics and medical equipment. He wanted to expand medical equipment to countries that didn’t have enough of it and make clean energy more accessible world wide, starting with the United States. Under his control Stark was slowly becoming more humanitarian orientated and to the surprise of many, this brought a lot support. Many people thought Tony was making a brave and commendable choice and progress. Since the announcement that he had a son, Tony had gotten a lot of mixed response. Many claimed Tony wasn’t fit to have and raise a child, that CPS should take Peter away before Tony could ruin his life. They demanded to know where the mother was and why she would allow Tony near her child. Other people thought Tony cleaning up his act in favor of fatherhood was proof Tony took parenthood and his responsibilities seriously. A couple more pictures had been released with Peter in them and all of them didn’t show Peter’s face or recognizable features. In every picture Peter’s body language read as relaxed in his father’s arms and despite people calling for CPS to take Peter away, CPS never visited him.

The first vacation Tony took since coming back from Asfanaghan was followed after an anxiety attack, the first Tony had ever had. He thought he was having a heart attack, that the palladium was finally taking him. However, Jarvis informed him it was an anxiety attack.

“Anxiety attack? Me?” Tony breathed in confusion.

“Yes sir.” Jarvis had chirped robotically.

Tony decided that it had to be because he was working himself too hard and that he needed to take a vacation. He had been struggling with the effects of the poisoning for sometime, but still hadn’t been on vacation. The idea of escaping his darkening reality for something nicer was a sweet idea. So he invited Pepper to go with him and Peter to his vacation home on his private beach in France. She had been flabbergasted at the invitation at first.

“With you and Peter? Like a family vacation?” She asked, confusion clear on her face as she cocked her head to the side and blinked owlishly.

“I mean, if you want to think of it that way, you can.” Tony said with a shrug.

“Uh, can I think about it?” Pepper questioned as she played with her hair, looking at the floor.

“Of course.”

Pepper smiled at him and left the room. Tony watched her go before heading over to the playpen where Peter was playing with large legos meant for children his age so he couldn’t choke on them. Tony smiled at Peter who was building a house contently as he sucked on a pacifier. 

“Hey Petey, what’ch ya got there?” Tony asked crouching down so he was face to face with Peter.

“Daddy!” Peter chirped, dropping the legos and making grabby hands at Tony.

Happy was the only person Tony had admitted to that he never felt as happy as he did when Peter got excited to see him. Something about parenthood had so far validated him but he knew it wouldn’t stay this way; so he decided to cherish it while he had it. With a grin, Tony scooped Peter out of the playpen and into his arms. “Hey little man, you happy to see Daddy?”

“Me happy!” Peter agreed. “Daddy me happy!”

Tony was beaming now, the excited toddler in his arms was happy and beaming at his father.

“And Daddy’s happy to see you too.” Tony kissed Peter’s cheek, making the child giggle excitedly before returning the action. “You wanna play legos with your old man?”

“Legos!” Peter cheered, cupping his dad’s cheeks as he spoke. 

Tony chuckled and carried Peter to his nursery. The crib was still in place but there was much more toys now and Peter was potty training, so they didn’t use the changing table much anymore. Most of Peter’s legos were in his room. He set Peter down on the soft carpet and grabbed the box containing the legos.

“Ready buddy?” Tony asked, opening the lid.

“Legos! Ready!” Peter was bouncing in place as he sat on the floor, staring at the legos box like it held gold.

Tony spilled the legos to the floor and with a squeal Peter grabbed them and started building what looked like a house. Tony followed Peter’s example and began building a mansion, babbling to Peter as he built. It wasn’t till he heard a chuckle behind him that he turned around and saw Pepper. She had a soft smile on her face as she watched Peter and Tony play with the legos.

“I thought you left.” Tony couldn’t help but blurt out.

“I almost did, but I decided not to. I’m glad I didn’t though, or else I would have missed seeing this.” Pepper said with a smile.

“Well, we do happen to work well together.” Tony joked, only for Peter to knock over Tony’s LEGO mansion. Pepper giggled and Tony made a what can you do gesture.

“Does that invitation to go on vacation with you still stand?” Pepper asked.

“Of course.” Tony answered without even thinking about it. 

“I’d love to go on vacation with you and Peter.” 

And with that, it was set in motion. He called Happy and made an arrangement to take Happy with them to France, he’d even stay in the beach house with them, but in a room on the other side of the house. A week later Tony used one of Stark Industries personal jets to take them to France, something Peter did not like. The kid had never been on a plane before and spent the whole ride fussy and clinging to Tony. Pepper thought it was cute and had to stop herself from coping at the toddler as he whimpered and clung to a billionaire some people claimed had no heart.

“You’re gonna be alright, buddy. I know you’re scared but you’re safe.” Tony tried to console Peter, rocking him and walking around the cabin with him, but nothing seemed to work until he fell asleep.

“You doing alright Tony?” Pepper asked once Peter fell asleep.

“Yeah, I just never thought he’d have such a hard time on the plane.” Tony sighed.

“Well, he’s never been in a plane before. It’s understandable for him to find it scary. He’s barely left your house in his two years and that’s usually to go see doctors.” Pepper reminded him, running a hand through Peter’s brown curls.

Tony sighed. “Pep, you know I’d take him out more if it weren’t for the press. I swear those paparazzi are vultures. Every time I step outside they’re trying to get a picture of me and Peter.”

“I know, but he needs to get out more still. Has he ever even been around kids his own age?” She already knew the answer but she asked anyway.

“No…” Tony grumbled.

With that she dropped the conversation. When they arrived in France Happy quickly went off to find their car while Tony and Pepper took the still sleeping Peter and got their luggage. They met up with Happy at the car and Happy put the luggage away while Tony put Peter in his car seat. The ride to the beach house was peaceful in a way Tony had only experienced a few times before in his life. This type of peace and quiet usually set him at unease, but being surrounded by people he cared about made it seem calm and good instead of suspicious. 

He had paid to have a room in the beach house turned into a nursery for Peter and when they got to the beach house, Tony was happily surprised by what a good job they did. He laid his sleeping son in the crib before going to help with the luggage.

“This place is beautiful.” Pepper said, looking out the black window to see the beach.

“You should see it in the Winter, it looks like it belongs to another planet.” Happy chirped, heading to his room with his own luggage.

Pepper smiled at Happy and Tony felt relieved that Pepper didn’t question why Happy was here. Happy wasn’t just his driver, he was Tony’s personal security. Since returning from Afghanistan it made him feel safer to have Happy close by and it was something Happy was fine with and Pepper had figured out. She never said anything about it to him, but he was sure she’d talked to Happy.

“Thanks for inviting me, Tony.” Pepper kissed Tony’s cheek and walked off to unpack her bags.

They spent the next day on the beach. Peter had never been to a beach or even a pool before, but he took to the water like a fish. Pepper had taken dozens of photos of Tony and Peter running around on the sand. Peter had on red swim trunks and gold floaties, but the smile on his face was what he saw the most. Peter squealed as he jumped on the wet sand as the tide reached his little feet.

“You like that, buddy?” Tony asked, a grin plain as day on his face.

Peter nodded giddily at his dad as Pepper put down the camera and walked up to them. “You gonna go in the water, Peter?” She asked.

Peter blinked and looked out at the ocean before taking steps forward, going in. Tony followed him and scooped Peter up, letting Peter giggle and splash. They were still in a very shallow part of the water, but it was deep to Peter. Pepper got in the water with them, smiling at them.

“He sure likes the water.” Pepper commented.

“I’m pretty sure we created a monster.” Tony joked.

That’s how they spent their vacation, on the beach and in the water. Sometimes Happy went to the beach with them and other times Happy stayed in the beach house. After a week of ignoring Stark industries, they returned home. Peter did better on the plane the second time around but still wasn’t much of a fan of it. However, going on vacation didn’t stop him from having anxiety attacks and he had to face the truth, he had changed drastically and some changes weren’t good ones. The first person he told was Rhodey. Rhodey had been over and they were talking when Rhodey noticed Tony seemed pretty tense.

“Why are you so tense Tony? Something happen with you and Pepper?” He asked.

“No, me and Pepper are doing good.” Tony said, trying to avoid admitting what was really going on.

“Okay, then what’s the problem?” Rhodey questioned, an eyebrow raised.

“I’ve just… Just been having issues.” Tony answered cryptically. 

“Like?”

“Anxiety attacks, feeling unsafe in a perfectly safe place. Shit like that.” 

Rhodey stayed calm on the outside but on the inside his heart ached. When Tony had first returned from Afghanistan Rhoey had been convinced Tony had PTSD wen he said he didn’t want to make weapons anymore. However, as he got to see Tony more and see how Tony had changed, he thought he’d been wrong but now he was thinking he’d been right all along.

“Tony, there’s nothing wrong with struggling with things like that.” Rhodey said softly.

“Don’t.” Tony breathed.

“Don’t what?” Rhodey demanded.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you, Tony. So many people struggle with the same thing and are able to live happy and functional lives. It’s okay to be struggling right now but you can find ways to move forward.”

“How?”

“There’s therapy-”

“No, absolutely not!” Tony huffed.

“Tony, if you bury this with locking yourself in your lab, you’re only gonna get worse.” Rhodey warned with a sigh.

Tony bit his lower lip and was saved from having to talk about it more by Jarvis alerting him that Peter had woken from his nap. “I gotta go get him. He won’t wanna stay in his crib now that he’s up. He gets so restless these days.”

“You should try finding a deserted park. He’s probably desperate to be outside and with other kids his age. One in a poorer area without a lot of kids, he’d be able to play with other kids and be outside.” Rhodey suggested.

The next day, Tony did that exact thing. He found a park in a poorer area without too many kids and took Peter there. He wore sunglasses and a hat to try and hide his face. Peter had been delighted at being out and ended up playing in the sandbox with a little girl around his age for about an hour. It became their regular park and they went twice a week and if anyone recognized him, they kept it to themselves. By Peter’s third birthday he’d made a couple friends at the park and he chatted to them the way toddlers did that no one could understand. It was that year that Tony decided to bring back the Stark Expos. They were something everyone had fond memories of and was family friendly. Sometimes going back to basics was the best thing you could do.

Everyone had been looking forward to the relaunch of the Stark Expo but Tony was trying to think above and beyond. After thinking it over, Tony decided it would be best to name Pepper CEO and get a new assistant.    
“Are you sure about this, Tony?” Pepper asked softly, cupping his cheek.

“You know this company and what’s best for it better than anyone, Pep. Plus, I’m dying. I can still help with the company, but I think it’s time for a new face, for you.” Tony explained.

“But then who’s gonna keep you alive?” She joked softly, earning a soft smile from Tony.

“Well, I’ll never be able to get an assistant as good as you, but I can get a new assistant.”

He ended up hiring Natalie Rushman as his new assistant. She was a pretty redhead and when she first saw Peter, she was a little clueless as what to do. Tony thought it was a little funny and made arrangements to compete in Monaco Historic Grand Pix. Of course it didn’t end well and he was attacked in the middle of the race by someone in an imitation suit and even thought he won the fight, his suit was badly damaged. He hadn’t done a whole lot as Iron Man since he managed to get all his weapons out of the middle east. It had taken over a year but he did it.

Of course when he got home from the attack, Pepper was in the house with Natalie and Peter.

“Oh god, Tony!” She sighed in relief before hugging him tight. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, I was just so worried.” Pepper admitted before kissing him.

When they pulled away Peter walked over to them, making grabby hands at both of them.

“Hey Petey-pie. Did you miss Daddy?” Tony questioned, opening his arms up to Peter.

“Petew miss Daddy, wait with Mommy.” Peter confirmed, making everyone still. Everyone knew who he was talking about with Mommy. He’d never called Pepper ‘Mommy’ before but they should have seen it coming. They didn’t see it coming however, but they moved past it quickly. Tony started to get very sick only shortly after this. He was throwing up and feeling out of it most days, he was feverish and he knew that it meant his time was coming up. He was going to die and despite trying to prepare for it, he still wasn’t ready to accept it yet.

“I’m not ready to go. I’m not ready to leave you.” Tony had whispered one night to his sleeping three year old. He stroked Peter’s curls with a sad smile. “I want to see you grow up, see what type of man you become. I don’t want you to grow up without me. I want to see you make friends, have birthday parties until you don’t want them anymore. I know I tried to prepare for it, but I’m not ready to die. I’m not ready to go, Petey-pie.”

Tony wiped viciously at his burning eyes. Even though Peter was sleeping, he didn’t wanna cry in front of his son. He kissed Peter’s forehead and left the room. His birthday was only days away and he knew in his gut it would be his last. Despite having been sober for two years, as he didn’t want Peter to ever see him drunk, on his birthday Tony got wasted inside his newest Iron man suit. It had been so bad Rhodey put on the Mark II prototype an restrained him. Once everyone left, Rhodey had barely had time to start yelling at him before he was jumping out of the suit and throwing up so violently he threw up blood. He didn’t have to be looking at Rhodey and Pepper to know they froze. He didn’t notice the blood when it first came up but by the time he was done, gripping the edge of his piano, he saw that it was blood dripping out of his mouth, not vomit and most of what was on the floor was blood. He stood up as quickly as his intoxicated self could and started stumbling towards Peter’s nursery, too drunk to remember that Peter was out of the house with Natalie Rushman.

“Tony, slow down, okay? How about you sit down and I’ll get you some water?” Pepper asked in a kind voice. 

“No, I need to see Peter. I need to see him.” Tony said seriously, continuing to stumble towards the nursery.

“Okay, Tony why don’t you sit down and I’ll go get Peter.” Pepper suggested, earning a nod from Tony. Rhodey helped Tony to chair and Pepper rushed out the door, already calling Natalie.

“Does that happen a lot, Tones?” Rhodey asked, his eyes glancing back to the vomit and blood.

“More often, yeah. It’s the poisoning. It’s getting worse, I’ll be dead soon.” Tony said simply, his words slurring as he spoke.

“The palladium poisoning? It’s getting that bad?” Rhodey questioned breathlessly.

Tony only nodded sluggishly, refusing to talk about it more. After a few minutes he tried to stand up again, only for Rhodey to gently push him back. “Hey, stay down Tony.”

“No, she-she’s taking too long. I need to see Peter!” Tony tried to stand up again, only for Rhodey to put his hands on Tony’s shoulders.

“Look at me, man. She’s getting him, he’s just out of the house right now.” Rhodey reminded Tony calmly. Grudgingly, Tony sat back down and a minute later, Natalie and Pepper came in, Peter asleep in Pepper’s arms. Tony’s eyes lit up at the sight of his son and his arms shot out for him immediately.

“See, I got him for you.” Pepper said, handing the child to her intoxicated boyfriend.

Before Tony could try and kiss Peter, Rhodey wiped the blood from his mouth. Tony barely noticed, just knew that his mouth was being touched. Once the touching went away he kissed Peter’s head and began whispering to him, not even noticing Pepper, Natalie and Rhodey in a circle behind him talking.

“No, it can’t be getting that bad. It can’t.” Pepper denied.

“It is though. Tony seems to think he’s gonna die any day now.” Rhodey had replied. “Has he said anything to either of you about this?”

“He’s very weird about Peter. I’ll be gone for a few minutes and he’ll be demanding to see Peter.” Natalie tried.

“Like he was tonight?” Pepper demanded.

“Yeah, like tonight.” Natalie confirmed, making Pepper’s breath hitch.

“He’s been more emotional lately. He went from barely saying he loves me to saying it twice a day. He doesn’t wanna talk about work as much, he’s just been acting different.” Pepper supplied.

“I think he didn’t want us to know it was getting this bad.” Rhodey said quietly, looking at Tony and Peter out of the corner of his eye. 

That night Peter slept in Tony’s bed with Tony. Tony had gotten hysterical when Rhodey had gone to take the toddler from him, so they let Tony sleep with him that night. Peter had woken up first and wiggled out of his dad’s grasp to get to the bathroom and crawled back into Tony’s arms. Tony woke up to his son in his arms and half memories of the night before. He stood up, putting Peter at his hip and carried Peter to their kitchen, only to freeze up when he saw a man he’d never met before.

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?” Tony demanded.

“My name is Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.” The man began. “And I’m here because my agent Natasha Romanoff, you know her as Natalie Rushman, gave me a call. I’m sure you remember Ivan Vanko, the man that attacked you at the race.”

“Yeah, what of him?” Tony asked, holding Peter tightly to his chest.

“His father, Anton Vanko, had worked with Howard to make the original Arc Reactor. However, when Anton tried to sell it, your father had Vanko deported. Because of it, Ivan holds a grudge to the Stark family.” Nick Fury explained, pulling something out of his pocket. “I believe this might be of help to you. It’s good to meet you Stark.” 

And with that, Nick Fury left and Tony felt like he could breathe easier. He made Peter and himself pancakes for breakfast before taking a look at what was left for him. He ended up finding a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo and it turned out to be a diagram of the structure of a new element. With the help of Jarvis, he was able to synthesize it and used it to replace the Palladium in his arc reactor. That was when the news that he had been fed false information when he was told Ivan Vanko was dead. Vanko was alive and Tony was sure he would come for Tony, maybe even Peter. He took great care to spend the day with Peter after that, watching his son play and run around excitedly. The pure joy on the toddler’s face as he ran to Tony made his heart soar. It was Peter, his son who had no one else to protect him, that fueled the fire in his gut.

“I’m never gonna let anybody hurt you, Peter.” Tony whispered, stroking Peter’s cheek as the toddler banged on toy drums. “Daddy loves you so much Peter and I’ll always protect you. No matter what happens or what anybody ever says, you’ll always be my greatest accomplishment, my greatest creation.”

Originally Tony had wanted Peter at the Expo, he wanted Peter with Happy, possibly in one of the toy masks so no one could tell his resemblance to Tony. But with the threat Justin Hammer, his rival who had busted Vanko out of prison and faked his death, posed Tony decided it was best for Peter to be taken somewhere safe. Happy got the best security, vetted by Natalie, now known to him as Natasha, and S.H.I.E.L.D. to watch after Peter. At the Expo Justin Hammer had unveiled iron drones that had been clearly made by Vanko. Rhodey had led the drones in a heavily weaponized version of Tony’s Mark II suit.

Tony had showed up in his Mark VI armor to try and warn everyone that things were about to go to shit, but he wasn’t fast enough. Vanko took control the drones and Rhodey’s suit and had them attack Tony. He fought for his life, but tried hard not to hurt Rhodey. Despite the vicious battle that went on, he couldn’t help but hope that Natasha and S.H.I.E.L.D. would step up and help. Clearly they saw him important enough to spy on him, so maybe they’d help. He hoped they would, but he also thought that if he died like this, at least Peter would get to think highly of his father’s last moments.

Unbeknownst to Tony, Natasha and Happy had found Vanko at one of Justin Hammer’s factories and tried to arrest him. Justin Hammer had been arrested and Vanko had been fighting hs hardest to get away, he even did get away. But it was enough for Romanoff to return control of the suit to Rhodey.

“You back, Rhodey?” Tony had asked hesitantly when Rhodey got control of the suit back.

“Yeah Tones, I’m back. What do you say we handle these damned drones together?” Rhodey asked with a little smirk Tony couldn’t see. Together they fought the drones, only for the drones to blow up along with Vanko, who had apparently committed suicide. Once it was over, Tony went to find Peter and found him in a secure location with Pepper.

“Oh god, it’s good to see you two.” Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tony!” Pepper gasped while Peter cried out “Daddy!”

Tony ran to them, holding Pepper in one arm and holding Peter in the other one. “I thought I’d never see you two again.” Tony confessed.

“God Tony, don’t ever do that to me again! I can’t raise our son alone!” Pepper said firmly, placing kisses on Tony’s cheek as she fought tears bubbling in her eyes.

“Our son, huh?” Tony asked, a soft smile toying on his lips.

She smiled coyly back at him as Peter laid his head in the crook of Tony’s neck, relaxing into Tony’s embrace. The child knew he was safe with his mother and father and ignored their conversation.

“Well, this is a big step. What do you say we get dinner and talk about this?” Tony offer, leaning his head gently on top of Peter’s.

“That sounds lovely, Tony.” Pepper replied.

Tony got reservations at a restaurant that catered to the rich and famous so they could eat in peace. Over dinner they talked about their relationship, Pepper’s relationship to Peter and the idea of possibly leaving California. They came to the agreement they were Peter’s parents, Pepper was Peter’s mom and they decided to move in together and take their relationship further. The choice to leave California wasn’t as easy of one.

“Well, we’ve been talking about and working on clean energy for a while now. We could build a place sustained completely on clean energy and move Stark Industries further and take Peter away from this. So far, we’ve had a lot of shit happen in California, Pep. I want my son, our son, to be raised in a home he knows he’s safe in.” Tony had declared and after some thought, Pepper agreed.

Maybe calling Peter “our son” for the first time was a low blow, but so much had happened in California that Tony just felt a change was necessary. Shortly after, they began planning Stark Tower. On the outside it would appear like any other New York skyscraper, but it would be run with clean energy and they’d promote it with the Stark Industries name while working on more projects for clean energy. When the building started happening, Peter’s birthday was right around the corner. The boy turned four before the construction was done. “What do you say, Petey-Pie? Wanna move to Manhattan?” Tony asked Peter one night.

“Only if Daddy goes too!” The toddler said, wagging his finger at Tony.

“Of course, I’d never have you go without me.” Tony promised his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it and don't slam me too hard. This chapter wasn't as good as chapter 1 but I promise Chapter 3 will be better.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stark family moves to New York, Loki invades and Avengers form

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one took so long because of how disappointed I am with myself over chapter two. I wanted this one to be much better. I'm probably doing to edit the hell out of chapter two when I finish this story.  
> This chapter was edited 11/3/18

They made the decision to move to New York as the finishing touches were still being set up at Stark Tower. The first two rooms to be finished and furnished was Tony and Pepper’s room and Peter’s room.  People had mixed feelings about the Stark Tower, but they always had mixed reactions. People loved the clean energy concept, making a skyscraper run totally on clean energy was an idea a lot of people seemed to like. Others, however, thought Tony was being too liberal. They thought this was some stupid stunt or that Tony was somehow tricking people. In a way, Stark Tower was a test subject. If it went well, it would be the first stark tower and more would be made.

However, the move was a good choice for the family. The paparazzi followed them less and Peter had made friends with a boy at his favorite park. The boy, Ned Leeds, was fun and silly just like the smart, goofy and imaginative Peter. Ned’s father had picked up right away who Peter and Tony were, but kept it tight lipped between himself and his wife only. Tony appreciated this, it was important for Peter to have a friend and the Leeds family seemed to be a perfect fit. The kids played with toy building kits and played in sand boxes. They were happy kids that liked to play together and Tony loved to witness it. 

After months of preparing, Tony was finally finishing making Stark Tower self sufficient, off the arc reactor. That night, they finished everything and Tony went inside the Tower to celebrate with his son and girlfriend. He and Pepper had their playful banter about who was the genius behind Stark Tower while Peter sat on the couch, watching them.

“Twelve percent of my baby?”

“An argument could be made for 15. I did do all the heavy lifting.” Tony argued.

Peter interrupted with a giggle. “Mommy and Daddy are silly!”

“Oh we’re silly are we? Then what does that make you?” Pepper asked, going to Peter and tickling his sides, making him squeal and wiggle about. 

Tony went over to them, placing a kiss on top of Peter’s head. Tony sat down and Peter crawled into his lap. Pepper poured herself a glass of champagne, knowing better than to offer any to Tony. Since his birthday party disaster when he thought he was dying, Tony had gotten clean again.

“Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden.” Jarvis interrupted the sweet family moment.

“Mr. Stark, we need to talk.” The voice of Phil Coulson came from Tony’s phone. 

With a dramatic sigh, Tony picked it up. “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message.” He said in a monotone voice, earning a laugh from Pepper and a giggle from Peter.

“This is urgent.” Coulson pushed.

“Then leave it urgently.” 

The elevator door opened, revealing Coulson. Peter frowned and leaned further into his father. Despite Tony trying his best to get Peter used to strangers, he still didn’t like them and was kind of a shy kid. Rhodey theorized it was because Peter had only been around so many people his whole life.

“Security breach.” Tony grumbled, tightening his hold on Peter.

“Mr. Stark.” Phil grunted.

“Phil! Come in.” Pepper greeted enthusiastically, getting up to greet him. 

“I can’t stay.” Coulson told Pepper as Tony got up to follow her, their son still in his arms.

“‘Phil’? His first name is ‘Agent’.” Tony interjected.

“Come on in, we’re celebrating.” Pepper ignored Tony and smiled brightly at Phil.

“Which is why he can’t stay. This is a family celebration with just our family.” Tony grit through his teeth.

“We need you to look this over as soon as possible.” Coulson said, handing a tablet over to Tony.

“I don’t like being handed things.” Tony said, his eyes drifting to Peter, who was looking at Phil like he was a big scary monster.

“That’s fine, because I love to be handed things.” Pepper pushed, trading her glass for the tablet. “Let’s trade.” She then held her arms out for Peter and the toddler clung to his father tighter.

“No! I wanna stay with Daddy!” Peter cried.

“Peter!” Pepper gasped dramatically. “I’m sorry Phil he doesn’t usually act like this.” She apologized, reaching out and trying to pull Peter away from Tony. 

Peter lost it, crying and screaming while clinging to Tony’s neck like his life depended on it. “No! Daddy don’t let her! Mommy stop! Don’t wanna leave Daddy!”

Phil was shifting from side to side as he watched the toddler lose it. Tony stared at Pepper blankly. She was a brilliant, smart and amazing woman, sharp as whip. How was she not picking up on the fact that their son was scared? “Pep, quit it! He’s scared of strangers, remember?”

“Daddy protect me!” Peter echoed, almost as if to prove Tony right.

“What? But Phil isn’t a stranger! Peter met him-” Tony cut her off.

“When he was less than a year old. He doesn’t remember it at all Peps. Agent Buzzkill scares him.”

Pepper blushed. “Well you still have to look at this.”

Tony shifted Peter to his side and took the tablet with a sigh and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. One night, he just wanted one night to his family. Apparently he couldn’t even have that. “Official consulting hours are between 8 and five every other Thursday.” Tony told Coulson, giving him a dirty look.

“This isn’t a consultation.”

“Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper asked. When Coulson went her a look, she blushed. “Which I know nothing about of course!”

“Vengers?” Peter asked quietly, looking up at Tony for an answer.

“The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn’t even qualify.” Tony said as he walked away from Phil and Pepper, his son still placed on his hip.

Peter cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. He had no idea what his daddy was talking about and no one was explaining. 

“I didn’t know that either.” Pepper said.

“Apparently I’m volatile, self obsessed and don’t play well with others.” Tony made no attempt to hide the bitterness in his voice. Natasha had almost been like a friend, learning what she thought of him, in the time he had thought was dying, had been a hit to his confidence.

“That I did know.” Pepper chirped.

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore.” Coulson cut in.

“Whatever.” Tony grumbled. “Ms. Potts, got a second?”

Tony set Peter down as he opened up the tablet, Pepper heading over. Peter would have gone back to the couch, but with one look at Coulson, he hid behind Tony’s legs.

“I thought we were having family time.” Tony muttered to her.

“This seems serious, Tony. Phil seems pretty shaken.” She said softly.

“”How do you know if it is? Why is it “Phil”?” He questioned.

“What is all this?” She asked instead.

“This is uh, this.” Tony answered and with a flick of his wrist, all the images on the screen where holograms.

Images of  people and a green monster filled the air, along with the monster roaring, making Peter flinch and cling to Tony’s legs. He dropped a hand down to Peer’s head and patted his head comfortingly. Pepper looked around with her mouth hanging open.

“I’m going to take Peter and take the jet to DC tonight.” Pepper said.

“Tomorrow.” Was Tony’s rebuttal.

“You have homework. You have a lot of homework.” She said firmly.

“And what if I didn’t?” Tony couldn’t help but ask, hoping the answer was something dirty.

“You mean when you finished?” She questioned with a smirk playing on her lips. 

Tony nodded and she leaned in, whispering dirty things in his ear so Peter couldn’t hear. “Square deal. Fly safe.” Tony agreed.

Pepper kissed Tony lovingly. “Work hard.”

She began walking towards Coulson, asking him if he was headed towards LaGuardia. Tony turned to Peter, who was obviously going with Pepper. Tony picked Peter up and kissed the kid’s forehead. “You be good for Mommy, okay Petey-pie? And when you get back we can have family time.”

“Okay Daddy. Love you!” Peter told Tony enthusiastically, giving Tony a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“I love you too, buddy.” Tony whispered.

Tony beamed at Peter before setting him down, watching his son run after Pepper. And with that, his family was gone and it was just him and his studies. Looking over the holograms, he had a feeling it was going to be a long night and he wished he could have just had his night with his family.

It didn’t take him long to realize they really did need him on this. The situation wasn’t a good one. The Tesseract, a glowing cube from space, had been stolen by a Trickster God who was controlling people’s minds. He saw profiles of Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers. Everything they knew about Loki, the God that took the Tesseract, and even a picture. It was all so much and unfortunately, very important. He didn’t want to, but he’d do his part. Maybe.

When Jarvis alerted him to a match of Loki’s picture in Germany, he immediately flew out. He found Loki in a fight with Captain America, fucking Captain America, the bane of Tony’s existence as a child. S.H.I.E.L.D. was there, to no one’s surprise.

“Agent Romanoff, you miss me?” Tony asked over the intercom as he flew in, music blaring.

He blasted Loki in the chest and had his weapons pointed at him. 

“Make a move, Reindeer Games.” He threatened as Captain America came to his side.

Loki slowly put his hands up, his horned helmet disappearing. “Good move.” Tony said.

“Mr. Stark.” Steve Rogers greeted as he panted.

“Captain.” Tony replied shortly.

They quickly handcuffed Loki and got him into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ship. Natasha talked to Fury over the intercom as they flew, but Tony didn’t pay much attention. It usually wasn’t this easy to capture the bad guy, but hey, he wasn’t complaining. Anything short and sweet was good, meant he could return to his family, his life.

“I don’t like it.” Steve whispered.

“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Tony mumbled back.

“I don’t remember it being that easy.This guy packs a wallop.”

“Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What’s your thing? Pilates?” Tony joked.

“What?” Steve asked, blinking in confusion.

“It’s like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a capsciple.” Tony knew he shouldn’t be so rude, he knew something felt off, but he couldn’t help himself. Here in front of him was the man his father spent Tony’s entire life looking for, ignoring Tony for. He couldn’t help the bitterness.

“Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.” Steve tried to change the subject, his face harder now.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you.” Tony replied as thunder and lightning roared outside the ship.

“Where’s this coming from?” Natasha couldn’t help but ask. 

The thunder and lightning had been sudden and it was coming down hard. Loki sat up straighter, looking around with visibly unhappy eyes, maybe even a little scared.

“What’s the matter, scared of a little lightning?” Steve taunted.

“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” Was all Loki said in reply, barley sparing them a glance.

Tony looked to Steve. Yeah, that didn’t sound good at all. Out of nowhere, something hit the top of the jet, shaking it. Tony grabbed his helmet, putting it back on quickly while Steve went for his shield. Tony opened the rear hatch, walking towards it.

“What are you doing?” Steve demanded.

Tony ignored him as a blonde, muscular man with a hammer dropped in. Tony approached him, only to be hit with the hammer and sent flying backwards. The man grabbed Loki by the shoulder roughly and jumped out of the jet, flying off.

“And now there’s that guy.” Tony grumbled, getting up and walking towards the open rear hatch.

“Another Asgardian?” Romanoff asked.

“That guy’s a friendly?” Steve asked.

“Doesn’t matter. If he frees or kills Loki, the tesseract is lost forever.” Tony snapped, walking close to the exit.

“Stark! We need a plan of attack!” Steve called out.

“I have a plan. Attack.” With that he flew out, after the two so called Gods.

He flew in in the middle of the two gods talking, sending the blonde one to the ground with him. He dropped the god harshly while landing on his own feet. The god stood with a groan, holding the hammer. “Do not touch me again.”

“Then don’t take my stuff.” Tony replied snarkily.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” The unidentified god tried to warn.

“Uh, Shakespeare in the park? Doth Mother know you wear-eth her drapes?” Tony quipped.

“This is beyond you, Metal Man. Loki will face Asgardian justice.” The Blonde God huffed.

“He gives up the cube, he’s all yours. Until then, stay out of the way.” Tony threatened, letting his face plate drop back in place. “Tourist.” He added for good measure.

The hammer was thrown, sending Tony flying back, smashing trees as he went. He landed on the ground, his images shaking. Now he was pissed. “Okay.” He growled to himself.

The blonde god had his hammer sent back to his hand as he stared up at Loki. Tony got up as the blonde god swung his hammer rapidly. Tony fired at his chest, sending him back. Before the blonde god could move Tony flew at him, hitting him and sending him back even more. The god called his hammer to him, and drew lightning down to it before shooting the lightning at Tony’s suit. He stumbled back at first but than Jarvis alerted him that his suit was now at 400% capacity. “How bout that?”

Tony fired at the God again and the battle ensued. They flew far into the trees as they fought. They took hit after hit, both determined to win the battle. Tony could admit to himself that the god was strong, but he wouldn’t admit it. Suddenly a shield came flying out, Cap’s shield, hitting both of them and then going back to it’s owner.

“Hey, that’s enough.” Cap began, dropping down. “Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here.”

“I’ve come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes!” The god bellowed.

“Then prove it. Put that hammer down.” Cap ordered.

“Uh yeah no, bad call. He loves his hammer.” Tony warned, only to be hit with the hammer again.

“You want me to put the hammer down?” The god shouted, going at the Captain hammer first.

Only the hammer met the vibranium shield which sent the attack back on the god, tearing apart trees all over. Tony got up with a groan, all three looking at each other.

“Are we done here?” Steve asked.

He god looked around and then hesitantly nodded. They collected Loki and went back to the jet, which took them to the main ship. Loki was taken away quickly, but Tony was already hating being here. Fights with Gods? Facing the man his father abandoned him to look for? Tony wished he could have stayed home and played Go Fish with Peter. Snuggling with and tickling his son was so much better of an idea than this mess. 

As Tony talked with Phil, the overs,Thor the god, Natasha, Steve and Bruce Banner sat around a table watching as Fury threatened Loki who insulted Bruce and the Hulk. The image went out and Banner was the first to speak.

“He really grows on you doesn’t he?” Bruce said sarcastically.

“Loki’s gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what’s his play?” Steve asked, looking to the god with long blonde locks.

“He has an army called the Chitauri. They’re not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the tesseract.” Thor explained.

“An army from outer space.” Steve deadpanned.

“So he’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.” Bruce concluded.

“Selvig?” Thor asked.

“He’s an astrophysicist.” Bruce explained.

“He’s a friend.” Thor said firmly.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours.” Natasha informed everyone with a sigh.

“I want to know why Loki let us take him. He’s not leading an army from here.” Steve butted in.

“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell the crazy on him.” Bruce said.

“Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he’s my brother.” Thor warned.

“He killed eighty people in two days.” Natasha deadpanned.

“He’s adopted.” Thor replied.

“I think it’s about the mechanics. Iridium… What do they need iridium for?” Tony heard Bruce ask as he walked in.

“It’s a stabilizing agent.” Tony answered. “So I’m just saying, take a weekend. I’ll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive.” Tony said to Phli before they went their separate ways before turning back to the group. “It means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings point break, you got a mean swing.” Tony hit Thor’s arm in a friendly manner. “Also means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants.” Tony explained.

He went to the middle of the floor and order the mizzenmast opened and then called a man out for playing gala. He then complained about all the screens before going back to explaining.

“The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the cube.” He continued to lecture as he worked on every screen.

“Hen did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Agent Hill demanded.

“Last night.” Tony said simply. “The packet, Selvig’s notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve demanded to know.

“He’d have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Bruce answered.

“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quontum tumbling effect.” Tony added.    
“Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion to any reactor on the planet.” Bruce replied.

“Finally, someone who speaks English!” Tony said, walking up to Bruce.

“Is that what just happened?” Steve asked as the two scientists shook hands.

“It’s good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.” Tony greeted. It wasn’t always easy to slip into this side of himself, business Tony, snarky Tony. He preferred home Tony, Dad Tony, the man his son looked at like he hung the moon. But he couldn’t be that man right now.

“Thanks.” Bruce muttered awkwardly.

“Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.” Fury interjected.

“I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hyrda weapon.” Steve added.

“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.” Fury growled.

“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor said.

“I do! I understood that reference.” Steve said excitedly.

Tony just tuned him out and left with Bruce to track the cube. Tony wanted this situation dealt with as soon as possible. Everyone else on this ship may have nothing to go home to, but Tony did and he wanted to go home to Peter and Pepper quickly. 

While Tony was away, Pepper was doing business and bringing Peter with her to everything she could. When she couldn’t, he stayed with Happy. Today was a day Peter couldn’t go with her and the child was obviously distraught. 

“Hey Petey, it’s okay. Your mom will be back soon.” Happy tried to sooth the child he considered his nephew.

“I want Mommy! I want Daddy!” Peter cried, stomping his little foot.

“I know you do, buddy, but they have to go to work. Plus, you’ve got me! Uncle Happy!” He said in a higher pitch like Pepper did to get him excited.

Peter just pouted, rubbing his eyes with his fist. Happy gave the toddler a sad smile. “How about we go to the zoo? Uncle Happy can take lots of pictures and send them to your mom and dad to let them see how much they’re missing out on.”

Peter visibly brightened, nodding his head excitedly. “Daddy will be so jealous! C’mon Uncle Happy lets go!”

When the pictures came to Tony’s phone, he looked down from the hologram to check his phone and couldn’t stop the smile from taking over his lips. Happy got pictures of Peter gaping at the giraffes and pointing at the polar bears. The kid was having a blast at the D.C. Zoo and Tony wished he could be there to see it first hand. They did look over the stick first, going through everything. He tried to get Bruce to be his friend but did poke him with a shock pen and argued with Steve. He pointed out how sketchy everything was. Steve didn’t want to see it, but the two scientists saw it. Once Bruce pointed out how obvious it was, the jab at Tony for the arc, why didn’t they bring Tony in first.

“I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secure files.” Tony said, looking down at his tablet.

“I’m sorry did you say-” Tony cut Steve off.

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I’ll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide.” Tony said nonchalantly before offering Steve a blueberry.

“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.” Steve sneered. 

“An intelligence organization that fear intelligence? Historically not awesome.” Tony snarked.

“I think Loki’s trying to wind us up. This is a man that means to start a war and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.” Steve pushed.

“Following’s never really been my style.” Tony shrugged as he popped a handful of blueberries in his mouth. He could say that he was never going to be 100% focused on this, not while he was a father. Having that tesseract out there made him fear for Peter, but for some reason, he didn’t want to mention he had a son. He knew Natasha knew, most of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the world knew, but he doubted Steve and Bruce did. He wanted to keep it that way.

“And you’re all about style, aren’t you?” Steve looked down at him.

“Of the people in this room is A) wearing a spangly outfit and B) not of use?” Tony hit back.

“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.” Bruce interjected.

“Just find the cube.” Steve grumbled, walking away.

“That’s the guy my old man never shut up about? Maybe they should have kept him on ice.” Tony grumbled to Bruce.

“He is right about Loki. He does have the jump on us.” Bruce replied.

“What he’s got is Acme dynamite kit. It’s gonna blow up in his face and I’ll be there when it does” Tony said smugly.

“And I’ll read all about it.” Bruce said with a soft smile.

“Or you’ll be suitting up with the rest of us.” Tony pushed gently.

“You see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed, like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.” Bruce corrected.

“I’ve got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl it’s way into my heart. This stops it.” Tony said, tapping his arc reactor. “This little circle of light, it’s a part of me now. Not just armor. It’s a terrible privilege.”

“Bu you can control it.” Bruce argued.

“Because I learned how.”

“It’s different.” Bruce dismissed.

“Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you.”

“So you’re saying that the Hulk… the other guy saved my life? That’s nice. That’s a nice sentiment. Save it for what?”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

“You may not enjoy that.”

“You just might.”

Tony walked over to his own station of the lab, leaving Bruce to work and think about what he said as his phone buzzed with pictures of Peter. The little guy was having a ball at the zoo, making sure that Happy sent every picture he liked to Pepper and Tony. Happy wasn’t a kid person in the slightest, but Peter was like a nephew he never wanted, but loved anyway. The kid shared his funnel cake and was always excited to see Happy, more than he could say with anyone else. Tony was a better man than most people thought him to be, Happy knew that, but Peter was a better human than anyone Happy had ever known. And he knew that right now, Tony would give anything to be with his son but instead he was somewhere else, doing what he had to do.

Tony sighed, looking away from a picture of Peter with powdered sugar on his face. The sooner they found the cube, the sooner Tony could go home. Jarvis pulled up answers and less than a minute later, Fury barged into the lab like a bat outta hell.

“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?” Fury demanded.

“Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you.” Tony shot back, perched up on a desk like a child.

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” Fury tried to scold.

“We are. The model’s locked and we’re sweeping through the system for the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location with in half a mile.” Bruce answered, making Fury look at their work.

“Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is “phase 2”?” He asked with a smirk firmly planted on his face.

Steve walked in, a weapon in hand and the answer on his tongue. “Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me.”

The weapon sat on a table now, unable to be denied. It was large and intimidating looking.

“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the tesseract. This does not mean we’re making-” Tony cut Fury off.

“I’m sorry Nick. What were you lying?” He asked, flipping the screen so everyone could see weapon plans.

“I was wrong director, the world hasn’t changed a bit.” Steve huffed as Natasha and Thor entered the room.

“Did you know about this?” Bruce asked Natasha.

“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” She asked.

“I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.” Bruce said sarcastically.

“Loki is manipulating you.” She tried.

“And you’ve been doing what exactly?” He spit back.

“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” Natasha defended.

“Yes and I’m not leaving the second you get a little twitchy. I’d like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!” 

There was brief silence before Fury broke it. “Because of him.” His finger was pointed directly at Thor.

“Me?” Thor asked, his face scrunching up in confusion.

Fury began a speech about Thor’s landing on earth, a battle Thor had that flattened an entire city. He talked about how Thor might be friendly, but other aliens might not be. He said the world needed to be prepared to fight back. Suddenly, they were all fighting. They were so busy arguing, they didn’t realize the jet coming at them full of Loki’s mind controlled minions. Soon, everyone was battling. Steve and Tony were dealing with blown up engine parts while Thor handled the Hulk. Natasha ended up going after Clint Barton, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent under Loki’s control. It was ugly, very ugly. Tony and Steve kept the engines up and running but in the scuffle Thor was lost, as was Bruce Banner, Phil Coulson was killed and Loki managed to get away with the Tesseract. Natasha managed to get Clint out of Loki’s control, but they had already lost so much. Natasha had Clint taken to a place he could clean up, get back to himself while Steve and Tony learned of Phil’s death. He felt sick to his stomach, learning that Phil, a good man, had died. 

They were shown Phil’s bloody Captain America trading cards and Fury gave a speech about how they had lost everything and admitting that they were gonna build an arsenal with the tesseract, he also admitted to the idea of the Avengers. He hit home by saying Phil had died believing in the Avengers, in heroes and Tony had to leave the room. He found himself going to the room that once held a giant cage for the Hulk, the room where Phil had died. He stared down at the floor that could open and close to drop the cage. He heard Steve walk in, but didn’t bother to look his way.

“Was he married?” Steve asked.

“No. There was a cellist, I think.” Tony answered.

“I’m sorry. He seemed like a good man.” Steve offered.

Tony scoffed under his breath. “He was an idiot.”

“Why? For believing?”

“For taking on Loki alone.”

“He was doing his job.”

Tony scoffed again. “He was out of his league, he should have waited. He should have…” Tony trailed off, both he and Steve walking closer to each other.

“Sometimes there isn’t a way out, Tony.” Steve said somberly.

“Right, I’ve heard that before.” Tony muttered, walking towards the exit.

“Is this the first time you lost a soldier?” Steve asked.

“We are not soldiers! I’m not marching to Fury’s fight.” Tony growled out.

“Neither am I. He’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list-” Tony cut Steve off.

“He made it personal.”

“That’s not the point.” Steve argued.

“That is the point. That’s Loki’s point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?” Tony questioned.

“To tear us apart.” Steve offered.   
“Yeah, divide and conquer, great. But he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That’s what he wants! He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.” Tony concluded, going straight for the door.

“Right, I cut his act in Stuttgart.” Steve agreed, turning to look at Tony.

“Yeah that was just previews. This is opening night. And Loki’s a full on diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-” Tony cut himself off as it hit him. Stark Tower. “Son of a bitch.”

Steve went to get Natasha and got Clint too. The guy was deaf, but he could read lips well and easily agreed to join the battle. He was eager to fight Loki, just like the rest of them. They took a plane, while Tony took his suit, flying off to Stark Tower. He got there first and ordered Doctor Selvig to shut it down, even fired at the machine, but it didn’t work. It made a barrier of pure energy. However, when he saw Loki, he landed and took off his suit as he entered the tower. The tower was his home, his girlfriend’s home and his son’s home. It felt like a huge violation to have it turned into ground zero of this shit show, but he had no choice.

“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity.” Loki snarked.

“Uh, actually I’m planning to threaten you.” Tony admitted.

“Ha! You should have left your armor on for that.” Loki threatened.

“Yeah. It’s seen a bit of millage and you’ve got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?” Tony made his way to the bar, where his new cuffs for the Mark Seven was.

“Stalling me won’t change anything.” Loki scoffed.

“”No, no, no. Threatening. No drink you sure? I’m having one.” Tony grabbed a bottle and poured a glass. He put on his cuffs and pretended to take a sip.

“The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?” Loki asked sarcastically.

“The Avengers.” Tony answered. “That’s what we call ourselves. We’re sort of like a team. “Earth’s mightiest heroes” type thing.”

“Yes, I’ve met them.” Loki snorted.

“Yeah.” Tony replied with a fake laugh. “Takes us a while to get any traction I’ll give you that one. But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella,  you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.” 

“That was the plan.”

“Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they’ll come for you.” 

“I have an army.”

“We have a Hulk.” Tony stepped closer, drink in hand. 

“I thought the beast had wandered off.”

“You’re missing the point. There’s no throne. There’s no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the earth, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.”

“How will your friends have time for me when they’re do busy fighting you?” 

Loki took his sceptre and his Tony in the chest, but he hit the arc reactor, not his heart. Loki blinked owlishly when nothing happened and tried again. “This usually works.” 

“Well, performance issues aren’t uncommon. They say one in five.” Tony joked.

With that, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him. 

“Jarvis, anytime now.” Tony said, pushing himself up.

Loki grabbed his face again. “You will all fall before me!”

“Deploy! Deploy!” Tony shouted as Loki threw him out the window.

The Mark Seven came to him and quickly the suit got on him. He managed to fly himself up in the air before he hit the ground. He flew up back to Loki.

“And there’s one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil.” He growled out. 

He fired a shot at Loki, sending him flying, but then the reactor turned on, sending a beam of light into the sky and the portal opened. Monstrous creatures began flying out of the sky and he went to fight them and try to close the portal, attacking them as they came down. As the Chitauri came down and attacked New York, Tony was glad Pepper and Peter were in DC, out of the madness. Thor arrived and then Natasha, Clint and Steve. Police swarmed the streets, unsure of what to do as the heroes attacked the Chitauri. The plane Steve, Natasha and Clint were in came crashing down as the two brothers fought. The three heroes climbed out of the plane and kept the battle going as more and more Chitauri flew in through the portal. They were everywhere. 

“Stark you seeing this?” Steve asked into the intercom, Clint was the only one without one.

“Seeing, still working on believing. Let me know when Banner gets here.” Tony said, flying after a whale shaped ship creature. Steve went to help the civilians while Clint and Natasha fought the Chitauri down below. Clint helped a bus full of civilians to safety and then went back to the fighting. Steve got the police to follow his orders, trying to keep the civilians safe. Tony worked on the ship creature but it felt like he was making things worse for the civilians rather than beating the Chitauri. Thor got down to the ground, helping the others on the ground with the lightning. That’s when Bruce arrived and agreed to help fight.

“Stark we got him.”

“Banner?”

“Just like you said.”

“Then tell him to suit up. I’m bringing the party to you.”

Tony flew there way, leading the creature to Bruce, who turned into the Hulk last second and sent the creature reeling with a single punch. That’s when the battle really took off, it felt never ending until he was informed a fucking nuclear bomb was being sent to Manhattan. Rather than help, the government wanted to kill everyone on the island of Manhattan. This island was more than just a city, it was home to many, including a family the Stark’s had grown close to. The Leeds and so many more like them would be turned to dust. So, Tony took the bomb and flew it towards the portal.

“Sir, would you like me to call Ms. Potts?” Jarvis asked as Tony flew closer and closer to the portal.

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” Tony sighed.

Pepper didn’t pick up, she was on Stark Industries private jet, staring slack jawed at the news coverages of the battle, too shocked to shield Peter from the coverage. Peter knew his daddy put on a special suit, he’d seen many variations of the suit, and he knew his daddy was out in the carnage. Tony flew straight up into the portal as time trickled down, letting go of the bomb just before it flew into a ship. Tony began to call backwards and a smile danced on his face. Even if he didn’t make it out, he would have done his part and Manhattan would be safe. He closed his eyes as the bomb went off. He was unconscious as he fell through the portal, as it shut, and hit the ground. He woke to Hulk roaring.

“Uh! What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me!” Where the first words out of his mouth as he panted heavily. 

“We won.” Steve answered.

“Alright yeah, yay. Good job, let’s not come in tomorrow. Let's take a day. You ever heard of Shawarma? I’ve never tried it but I want to. There’s a Shawarma place right around the corner.” Tony babbled.

“There’s just one last thing we have to deal with.” Thor said, looking up at the tower.

Tony sighed dramatically. “Then Shawarma after.”

They got up to the tower quickly and captured Loki. They all had seen better days, but it didn’t matter. With Loki captured, they did go to the Shawarma place and when they got back to the tower, Tony told everyone they could relax for a while. Everyone took him up on his offer, Clint, Thor and Bruce flopped on the couch while Natasha and Steve sat down on two of his comfier chairs. Tony was relaxing when the door to the top floor flew open, making Tony turn to it in apprehension, but what flew in wasn’t an enemy, it was a blubbering, sobbing Peter. Tony jumped to his feet immediately, glad he was in his regular clothes. “Peter!”

All of the other Avengers looked over. Clint and Natasha knew he had a son, but stared on anyway while the others he didn’t think knew he was a dad.

“Daddy!” Peter sobbed, running at him. Tony scooped him up and held the crying child to his chest. “I saw you fall from the sky! I thought you were hurt! Daddy scared me!” Peter buried his face in the crook of Tony’s neck as her cried.

Pepper stood at the door, looking at Tony with awe, fear, anger and relief written all over her features. Tony rubbed Peter’s back and rocked from foot to foot.

“I’m sorry buddy, Daddy didn’t mean to scare you. There were some bad guys here and Daddy had to do something and Daddy got hurt, but I’ll get better.” Tony tried to soothe.

“Don’t do again!” Peter ordered with a wail. 

Tony just nodded along, rubbing Peter’s back till the sobs turned to sniffles.

“Well, he sure has grown since I last saw him.” Natasha broke the silence, making Peter stiffen as he noticed all the strangers.

“I knew Stark had a son, I just never realized what a good dad he would be.” Clint spoke as he signed.

“Being a dad is the thing he’s best at.” Pepper but in, walking over to the Avengers. “I’m Pepper Potts, Tony’s girlfriend.”

“Clint Barton.” Clint introduced himself, making everyone else do the same. 

Thor seemed to be the one that moved on the quickest from this new development. He told Tony that Peter would grow up to be a brave warrior, clapping Tony on the back.

“I think it’s time to put Peter down for his nap. It was nice meeting you.” Pepper declared with a small smile, taking Peter and carrying him to his room, leaving the Avengers to themselves.

“I didn’t know you had a son, Stark.” Steve said softly. 

“Well, I’ve had him for four and a half years, his whole life.” Tony shrugged.

“You’re really good with him.” Bruce added. “Better than most dads I’ve seen.”

“Thanks.” Tony awkwardly took the compliment.

“Tony, if I’d have known you had a son, I never would have-” Tony cut Steve off.    
“Save it. I did it for him.” Tony admitted. “Manhattan is Peter’s home. This is where his best friend lives, this is where his favorite pizza place is and Manhattan is my home. I wasn’t going to let some government assholes blow it up.” And with that, the conversation was done. 

The next day, Thor took Loki back to Asgard, along with the Tesseract. Tony got the phone numbers of the other Avengers, who all went their separate ways. Tony and Pepper decided to rebuild Stark tower, now Avengers tower. Peter was more clingy than usual, but Tony figured after Peter saw Tony fall from the sky that was normal. Life wasn’t normal or perfect but it was good and Tony was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was so mad that they had Clint be hearing in the movies. There isn't much Clint in this chap but I love Deaf Clint and he'll be back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time goes on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I personally hate Iron Man 3. I totally butchered it and I know that but oh well.  
> This chapter has been edited. 11/3/18

After the invasion of Loki and Chitauri, it took time for New York to recover. Half the world loved them and hate others hated them. Ned Leeds and his family loved the Avengers. Mrs. Leeds even made Tony a cake, a casserole and bread as a thank you for what he did. By Peter’s fifth birthday the tower was up and running and Clint Barton was often crashing in one of their many guest rooms. To the surprise of everyone, Peter and Clint took to each other like magnets. Peter was fascinated by sign language and Clint’s purple hearing aids and Clint ate like and acted similar to the kids Peter spent time with. Clint started teaching Peter sign language and the kid took to it like a duck to water.

When it came time for Peter to start school, Tony and Pepper made the decision to enroll him under a false name “Peter Parker”. They enrolled him in a local public school that Ned would be attending. Peter had been nervous at first but with encouragement from his parents, “uncles” and his favorite Avenger, Peter didn’t put up a fight about going. Clint slept over the night before Peter’s first day and had breakfast with the family that morning.

“You’re gonna do awesome, Peter.” Clint signed as he spoke, heading to the coffee machine.

“Are you sure? It seems so scary.” Peter whined.

Much to the displeasure of the other adults, Clint took a swing of directly from the coffee pot and set it back down. “I’d never lie to you, kiddo.”

Clint spent the rest of breakfast hyping Peter up for school and then it was time to go. They had toured the school the week before and all the staff had signed Non Disclosure Agreements so no one could say who Peter really was. However, they still couldn’t walk Peter in on his first day. Happy would. As they parked in the school parking lot, a teary eyes Peter hugged his parents arms.

“Hey Petey-Pie, it’s okay. You’ll see us at three o’clock and we’ll take you out to ice cream.” Tony promised, kissing Peter’s curls.

“Fine.” Peter sniffled. “I love you.”

“We love you too.” Pepper cooed.

Happy opened up the car door and helped Peter out. Happy took Peter’s Avengers backpack and held it while  Peter shot them one last glance before taking Happy’s hand and letting Happy lead him into school. The school wasn’t as big as Peter had feared, having lived in giant homes his whole life, most buildings weren’t big to him. Luckily Ned was in his class and the two kids stuck together. At three O’clock, Peter came running towards the car, a big smile on his face. He jumped in and tackled his parents in a hug.

“Hey Petey! Did you have a good day?” Pepper asked as Tony kissed the kid’s head.

“Yeah! We sang the alphabet song and played! It was easy.” Peter told his parents proudly.

“That’s my boy! Now, I say this is celebration that calls for ice cream!” Tony declared, making Peter cheered.

They got ice cream and Peter devoured his. By the end of the week, Peter became the first kid in his class to memorize the alphabet and learn to write each letter in sloppy child hand writing. It was abundantly clear that Peter was very intelligent and learned quickly, but luckily Ned did too. The kids learned at a very similar pace, far above the other kids in their class and there was talk of the two kids doing more advanced work so they wouldn’t get bored. Tony and Pepper were proud, but Pepper worried that Peter would be alienated from the other students.

“Maybe, but he’ll have Ned. They learn at almost the same pace, so they won’t be alone. That’s more than I had.” Tony had said, effectively ending the discussion.  At home Peter worked on his writing and numbers with his parents and sign language with Clint whenever he was around. It was a good system, Peter was happy and everything was good.

Two months into Peter’s first year of school, Jarvis alerted Tony that something had happened. Years ago, when Tony go back from Afghanistan, he had feared Mary Fitzpatrick would appear and try to take Peter back, so he had Jarvis monitor her. He was to be alerted if Mary tried to find information on Peter, was hurt, died, filed for custody or came too close to the house. After years of none of it happening, Tony had forgotten he had ordered Jarvis to keep an eye on the woman, until Jarvis blurted out the bad news. “Sir, it has been reported that Richard and Mary Parker have died in a plane crash.” 

“Who?” Tony asked, his brow furrowed.

“Peter’s birth mother Mary Fitzpatrick Parker and her husband, Richard Parker.” Jarvis informed him.

Tony froze slightly. He had stopped fearing she’d try and take his son a long time ago, but he never thought she’d die so young. He always figured when Peter got older they’d tell Peter about his birth mother, maybe he’d want to meet her, but now Mary was dead. Peter already knew that Pepper wasn’t his Mommy in the way Mrs.Leeds was Ned’s Mommy. Pepper had explained to Peter that Moms carry babies in their tummies until babies are strong enough to be born. She told him that she didn’t carry him, but she was his mommy because she loved and raised him and Peter had accepted that; though he had so many questions about how babies got in the moms. But telling a five year old that his birth mother was dead was a lot different from telling him his mom didn’t give birth to him. He immediately contacted Pepper and informed her what was going on and together they agreed to tell Peter at dinner.

When Peter got home from school, he had a big smile on his face as usual. The moment he saw his parents he began telling them about his day, how he and Ned had tried to make a block tower so big it touched the ceiling but the teacher stopped them. He talked about how his writing was getting better and he was working on learning new words to read and write. Seeing how excited Peter was to share the news, how happy he was, made Tony not want to tell Peter. He was so happy and they were going to ruin it. They let him babble and be happy until dinner. They sat around their huge kitchen table, eating the home cooked meal Pepper had prepared.

“It’s really good Mommy!” Peter chirped, talking with his mouth open.

“Thank you Peter.” Pepper said with a small smile.

Normally Tony and Pepper would have reminded him to close his mouth, but instead Pepper sent Tony a look. It was time.

“Hey Pete, do you remember when Mommy told you about Mommies that carry babies and Mommies that don’t?” Tony asked.

“Uh-huh! Mommy didn’t carry me.” Peter said, nodding his head.

“Well, the woman that did carry you, something happened today.” Today began.

“Did she get a boo-boo?” Peter asked with wide eyes.

“Kind of.” Pepper tried to help.

“She got a real bad boo-boo Pete and she’s gone away and can’t ever come back.” Tony sighed.

“Like… Like Ned’s Grandma?” Peter asked.

A month ago Ned’s Grandmother died, Tony had almost forgot in all the mayhem. Ned’s grandmother had been a sweet woman who often made baked goods for the Stark family.

“Yeah buddy, exactly like Ned’s Grandma.” Tony Agreed.

Peter frowned deeply. “That’s sad. Her family will miss her.”

“You’re right, they will.” Pepper reached out and smoothed down Peter’s curls.

“Can we send them a card? Ned’s Mom got lots of cards when Ned’s Grandma died.” Peter asked, looking at his dad with hopeful eyes.

“Of course we can sweetie.” Tony said with a sad smile.

Tony did send a card, with no name, and let Peter doddle flowers on it before anonymously sending it to May and Benjamin Parker, Richard’s brother and his wife. Mary’s only living relative was Peter and Peter didn’t know that yet. The kid was too young to understand death or blood relations like this; but he was a good kid.

A few months later, Bruce Banner showed up at the tower asking if he could stay for a while.

“I wouldn’t ask if I had anywhere else to go and… I don’t want to ask S.H.I.E.L.D. for help.” Bruce had whispered.

“Of course you can! I had a room built for every Avenger. I even got a lab set up for you. You’re gonna love it Doc. C'mon, let me show you!” Tony had exclaimed, grabbing Bruce’s shoulder and pulling him in.

Bruce had loved the lab and his room. They were perfect. The bedroom was full of books he enjoyed, colors he liked and had a beautiful desk and Stark laptop. On top of that, Peter had taken to Bruce similar to how he took to Clint and Bruce adored the child right back. Ned came over often and the two children would follow the Avengers around like puppies. Bruce would often show them simple science experiments that children could do and Tony would often show off new things he was making. Clint would show them acrobatics tricks or help them with their sign language but every Avenger had their way of entertaining the kids. Only two months after Bruce had moved in, Clint officially moved in after unofficially having lived with them for a while. Peter had been so thrilled and surprised them all. “This is great! Now both my uncles live here! Now we just have to get Uncle Happy to move in too!”

No one was really sure where he got the idea Bruce and Clint were his uncles, but nobody corrected him and everyone let him believe it.When Peter finished Kindergarten, their little family had celebrated with a party. There was an ice cream cake and a casserole made by Mrs. Leeds. Ned came over and Tony rented a moon bounce for one of the lower floors. It had been a good time. 

Life stayed like that for a while. Tony went on missions as Iron Man sometimes, he worked on his suits and ideas for Stark Industries, he hung out with Clint and Bruce and he was a parent. However, Tony’s PTSD was slowly getting worse and it wasn’t until he had a fight with Pepper over wanting a suit in their bedroom that he realized how bad it was getting. He couldn’t even drive in a car without problems. The fight with Pepper was so bad that she decided that they needed some time out of the city. They decided to go to the Malibu home for the Holidays. Terrorist attacks by a man calling himself The Mandarin and it was putting Tony on high alert. In a foolish attempt to fight back, he’d given out his address and his home had been bombed. A suit got him and took him far away. A suit had also taken Peter, protecting the eight year old from the explosion but once it was calm enough for the fire department and police to get through everything, Tony and Pepper were nowhere to be found.

“Where’s my mom? Where’s my dad?” Peter had screamed over and over as the fire department looked through the wreckage and the police tried to take him away from the chaos that was once his family’s Malibu home. With both his parents missing, their wills were looked through and Rhodey had been listed as his guardian if anything should happen to both of them. Rhodey had flown out in his War Machine suit that Tony had made and held Peter’s hand through the madness. News outlets were salivating at the idea of interviewing Pepper and Tony’s surviving child but Rhodey kept him away and his face out of the media.

“They’re not dead. I know they’re not.” Peter had weakly told Rhodey after the first week and even when a week turned into three months, Peter kept saying they were alive.

The whole time he was away, all Tony could think about was Peter and Pepper. He couldn’t get a hold of a phone to call Pepper and Peter, but he couldn’t stop thinking of them. Were they okay? He didn’t know. A kid, Harley, was helping him out and it was hard for Tony to be around him. He was smart and kind, like Peter, and around the same age as Peter. He didn’t look much like Peter, but he still reminded Tony too much of his son. He could tell the kid was looking for a father figure, but he couldn’t do this for Harley. 

When he finally got away and went to handle the Mandarin, he realized this wasn’t the guy who was really behind these attacks. He found out that a scientist he had once ignored, Aldrich Killian, was behind all of this. Killian had taken over research for Extremis and used it on himself to cure his own disability but had also taken it too far. He used it on Pepper, on other people, and planned to attack the president. He did as much as he could. Getting Pepper and the president back had not been easy, but he did it. Pepper killed Killian and Tony removed the Extremis from her body.

“Tony, what are you doing?” Pepper had demanded when Tony ordered Jarvis to destroy all the iron man suits.

“I’m getting rid of them. All they do is bring trouble to our doorstep.” Tony sighed.

“No, they don’t. Tony, trouble is always going to come, but having those suits help. They allow you to protect yourself, protect Peter, and me.” Pepper said softly, resting her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t love the suits Tony, but don’t get rid of them.”

Tony faltered and ordered Jarvis not to destroy the suits. The couple went back and Rhodey was waiting for them, pissed.

“What the hell Tony? Three months and no phone call?” Rhodey hissed. “Do you have any idea how scared everyone was?”

“I’m sorry Rhodey, I couldn’t get my hands on a phone, I really tried.” Tony apologized.

“But you could get shit for your suit?” Rhodey scoffed.

“Yes! Yes I got stuff for my suit but couldn't get a phone! Look, we can yell at each other for this later, but I wanna see my son now.” Tony huffed.

Rhodey flared his nostrils and rolled his shoulders before nodding. He led Tony and Pepper to his car, where Peter was anxiously fidgeting in the back seat. When the door opened and Peter saw them, relief flared on his face.

“Mom! Dad!” He shouted, launching himself at his parents. 

Tony caught Peter with a soft grunt and held the eight year old to his chest. Pepper ran her fingers through Peter’s hair as Tony held him. 

“Hey buddy, I missed you so much.” Tony whispered to Peter.

“I was so scared, Dad. Everyone said you were dead, but I didn’t believe them! Please don’t go again!” Peter whimpered, tearing up as he clung to Tony.

Tony’s heart stung and he held Peter tighter. “I know, I’m sorry. I was scared too. I thought I’d never see you and Pepper again. I won’t ever disappear like that again, I promise. “

“You and mom were gone! I was so scared and so mad! Why did you leave me?” Peter demanded, crying as he dug his nails deeper into Tony’s shirt.

“We didn’t want to go, Peter. We had no choice.” Pepper said softly.

Peter didn’t speak, just cried. With the Malibu house destroyed, they took a plane back to New York. The flight was eerie and quiet, but somehow just what they needed. The little family slept the whole day back to New York. Once they were back in the tower, Pepper set up a press conference and the next day everyone knew Tony was alive and well and had handled the man behind the Mandarin attacks. Clint and Bruce moved back in before the week was over. Tony tried to pretend none of it happened, but Bruce wouldn’t let him.

“Ignoring what happened to you won’t make it any less real, Tony.” Bruce said softly in the lab one day.

Tony froze when Bruce spoke before shaking himself and returning to his work as if he didn’t hear Bruce. It happened a couple more times before Tony broke down.

“I know that Bruce! What the fuck do you want from me, huh? You want me to cry about it? Cry about how I scared my son? How my girlfriend was kidnapped and I couldn’t protect her? You want me to throw a temper tantrum because life isn’t fair? You want to hear about all the guilt I have over this? I’m trying my fucking best to deal with this, Bruce!” Tony snapped.

Bruce just stayed quiet and hugged Tony as he shook from silent tears of built up frustration and despair. 

Bruce had been there for Tony and Pepper and Clint was there for Peter. The kid had been having trouble at school. All the kids wanted to talk about was Iron Man’s sudden reappearance and Peter didn’t want to talk about it. Ned wanted to know everything but the sweet kid understood his best friend didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t push. So when Peter came home from school frustrated, he’d go to Clint. The two would sign together and play games to burn off the anger and frustration. Tony wished Peter would go to him with this, but was thankful Clint was there. Peter and Tony were very close, but there were some things that it was just easier for Peter to talk to Clint about. The man may be deaf but he’s the best listener Peter knows.

Peter loved science and building, something he had in common with Tony. When Peter had shown interest as a toddler, Tony made a section of the lab just for Peter and now that Peter was eight, he wanted to be apart of everything. He was rather advanced for his age and was incredibly intelligent. Tony had even used one of Peter’s ideas to make his blasters work faster. However, the intelligence that got Peter praised by his family and teachers was the same thing that put a target on his back in school. Kids were jealous of Peter’s intelligence. They were mean because of it and refused to be Peter’s friend. The same went for Ned, so the two stuck together like glue. It was hard, hurtful, but they toughed it out. 

Before Tony knew it, Peter was finishing up Elementary School.

“There’s no way, he’s a baby!” Tony had said to Pepper, gesturing to pictures of Peter he kept up around the living area.

“He’s ten now Tony. He’s finish up fifth grade. It’s a big moment for him.” She said with a smile.

Tony’s gut clenched. Where had all the time gone? It felt like just yesterday he was trying not to puke while changing Peter’s diapers, teaching him how to walk. Time was going too fast and Tony felt like he was missing his son’s life.

“You’re a great dad Tony. Time just flies.” Pepper had consoled him, rubbing his back.

The fifth grade graduation had been hard on Tony. He and Pepper hid in the back so they wouldn’t be spotted and watched Peter and Ned “graduate”. Afterwards Tony decided to take Peter to a museum, just the two of them. Peter was in awe of everything, running around so he could see everything like he thought it would all disappear. 

“Wow! This is amazing, thank you so much Dad.” Peter gasped, hugging Tony tight.

“This is your day Peter. I just, I want you to know how much I love you. You’re just growing up so fast and soon you won’t wanna do things with your old man. I just wanna have as many moments and days like this as possible.” Tony admitted.

He felt so open and vulnerable like this, but the look of love and happiness on Peter’s face was worth it. Peter hugged Tony again and Tony hugged back.

“I’ll never grow out of wanting to be with you, Dad. You’re the best dad in the whole world and I love you so much.” Peter whispered back.

The rest of the day was spent in the science museum and getting hot dogs and ice cream. When they got home, you couldn’t pry the smiles off Peter and Tony’s faces if you tried. Clint teased whem when they got back, but it was okay. Natasha ended up dropping in while they were gone and she stayed the night to recover from a tough mission. It was nice, peaceful. Of course, peace never lasts long. Within five months S.H.I.E.L.D. was exposed and Steve fell in the pontiac river only to be dragged out by The Winter Soldier, who is really Bucky Barnes. In the aftermath Steve and his new friend. Sam Wilson, came to live in the tower.

“Dad, why is Captain America here?” Peter had whispered, looking at Sam and Steve in fear and awe. The kid never completely grew out of being shy around people he didn’t know well.

“He and his friend are gonna be living with us for a while.” Tony answered easily.

“Because of what happened in D.C.?” Peter asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yeah, Pete. Because of what happened in D.C.” Tony confirmed, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

Peter hadn’t seen Steve since the Chitauri invasion, almost six years ago, so he only remembered Steve so much. Steve, on the other hand, was gobsmacked by how big Peter was.

“How old is he now?” Steve asked Tony, staring at Peter as the kid talked to Sam.

“Ten. Been about six years, Rogers.” Tony said, looking over at his son with pride.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. He grew so quickly.” Steve grumbled.

“You’re telling me. I use to carry the kid around on my hip. Would break my back trying that these days.” Tony chuckled.

Sam and Peter got along pretty well. They told jokes and played video games together, Clint usually tagging along. Ned was a huge Captain America fan and nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement the first time he met Steve, something the whole tower agreed to never let him live down. Steve and Peter didn't interact much, but when they did it was awkward. Most of the things Peter enjoyed were confusing to Steve, like science and video games.However, when Peter got a camera from Pepper as a gift, he started taking pictures a lot and began showing interest in photography and that helped him bond with Steve, an artist. 

Clint got along pretty well with Sam and Steve, both were very patient with Clint’s deafness, which made Clint tease them and after that they bonded. Tony got along pretty well with Sam, who was funny, and pretty well with Steve, though they did but heads a lot. Nothing really exciting happened until, in all the S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra files that were exposed, it came out that the Winter Soldier killed Maria and Howard Stark. Jarvis was the one that told Tony, he felt his blood go cold and for the first time in years, he drank. Steve was the one to find him at two in the afternoon, nursing his third bottle of rum. He was angry and sad. He didn’t understand his feelings at all. It reminded him of when Peter was little and didn’t know what to do with his emotions so he always cried.

“Tony, what the hell are you doing?” Steve demanded.

“Oh me? Nothing, just having a drink.” Tony sneered.

“I heard you were sober.” Steve said, eyeing the empty bottles around Tony.

“I felt like having a party.” Tony growled out sarcastically.

“You really want your son to see you like this?” Steve knew it was a low blow, but it felt like a good thing to say at the time.

“Don’t you fucking dare bring Peter into this! I’m a great father! An amazing fucking father! I quit drinking for him!” Tony ranted.

“Then why are you drinking now?” Steve asked, his voice softer now.

“Jarvis was looking through Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s records. My parent’s deaths weren’t accidents. The Winter fucking Soldier killed them.” Tony laughed humorlessly.

Steve’s face dropped. “I-I know.” He admitted. 

“You-you fucking knew?!” Tony lurched forward but swayed heavily, glaring at Steve.

“I only just read about it earlier this week.” Steve sighed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony demanded, refusing to let his anger go.

“I didn’t know how, I didn’t want you to blame my friend, I didn’t want to upset you.” Steve listed off.

Tony scoffed. “You think I wouldn’t have rather heard it from you, from a teammate, a friend?” 

Steve looked down.

“I thought they died in an accident! And now I learn, from leaked documents, it was a hit? You think that’s how I wanna learn that?!” Tony shouted.

“Sir, I recommend you take a breather.” Jarvis spoke.

“Fuck you, Rogers! Fuck You and your bullshit!” Tony cried, throwing a bottle of rum in Steve’s direction.

It wasn’t even close to hitting Steve but Steve still flinched and jumped out of the way. Tony left the room before Steve could say anything again, leaving the super soldier alone in the room and in shock. Steve cleaned up the room and went to his room. He spent the rest of the day sketching and at dinner, Tony and Peter weren’t with them. Pepper was and she refused to acknowledge the two missing figures.

Unbeknownst to Steve, Tony had sobered up to the best of his abilities after his talk with Steve and picked Peter up from school early. The father and son duo went to Peter’s favorite museum and spent hours talking. Peter could tell something was off with his dad and demanded to know what was wrong. Tony fessed up to falling off the wagon and explained that he learned something heartbreaking about his parents that he was having a hard time dealing with. Peter didn’t ask what it was, he just took his father’s hand and squeezed it.

“You made a mistake, it’s easy to do that when things are bad. You won’t do it again.” Peter said, rubbing his dad’s knuckles with his thumb.

It wasn’t much, but it showed Tony that his son believed in him, trusted him 

“I won’t make a mistake like this again, I promise Pete.” Tony vowed quietly.

“I know.” Peter said with a smile and that was it.

Tony texted Pepper and explained what had happened, that he needed time with Peter and would be home after dinner. She wasn’t pleased she wasn’t included, but she didn’t question anything and didn’t fight, just reminded Tony she loves him and that she’s always here for him. They finished up with the museum and went to Peter’s favorite burger joint for dinner. They ate messy, delicious burgers and Peter babbled on about school. Middle school wasn’t much different from elementary school so far, the only difference was the school was bigger. Peter and Ned had recently made a new friend, a girl named Michelle Jones. She doesn’t know who Peter really is yet but Tony figured it was only a matter of time. 

After dinner the duo returned to the tower. Pepper was waiting for Tony, so Peter went to go talk to Bruce, leaving the couple alone.

“You feeling better, Tony?” Pepper asked, reaching out to take Tony’s hand.

“Yeah, I just needed some time. I’m sorry if I scared you.” Tony gave his hand to her willingly and leaned closer to her.

“I was just worried. I’m really sorry about all of this. You don’t deserve this, any of this.” Pepper’s voice was firm, left no place for arguments.

She knew Tony didn’t see himself the way she sees him. He didn’t see a good man when he looked in the mirror, he saw all his mistakes and all the things he could do better. Tony didn’t say anything but hugged her.  He leaned into her and allowed her to just hold him.

Two floors down, Peter was with Bruce and Clint doing experiments for kids. The two avengers didn’t ask what Peter did, why he wasn’t at dinner. Everyone knew something had happened but no one dwelled on it. The next day, all the alcohol was ordered to be thrown out of the tower or hidden. Clint and Sam opted to hide their alcohol while Bruce and Steve just watched as all the alcohol was taken out of the tower. Time went on and Steve never talked to Tony about that day again, but Tony let Steve know that he didn’t blame Bucky by giving Steve information on where Bucky was last seen and a promise that Bucky could stay in the tower while being deprogramed if he wanted.

When Peter turned elven, Michelle Jones was invited to the birthday party. She took one look at the tower and rolled her eyes, muttering “of course he’s Iron Man’s son” and that was it. She didn’t make a big deal out of it and Peter’s was immensely relieved that she didn’t seem to care. As time went on Steve continued to hunt for Bucky with the help of Sam in between missions and Thor sometimes dropped in to say hello. Peter was intrigued by the friendly god of thunder who took to Peter unexpectedly.

“I, Thor, God of thunder, will protect your heir, Stark! No one will harm the son of Stark while he is training to be a warrior!” Thor had bellowed one day and shortly afterwards Thor was dubbed one of Peter’s uncles much to the glee of the thunder god.

Natasha dropped in whenever she felt like it. One day when Peter was twelve they went on a mission that led them to find Wanda and Pietro Maxinoff, twins from an Eastern European country who were Hydra’s only living experiments of the super soldier serum. At first the twins were furious to see Tony and tried to attack him but after Natasha talked to them they seemed calmer. It was clear they didn’t have anyone and the hydra agents had abandoned them when the Avengers showed up. The twins had only just got their powers and were struggling to control them. They were teenagers, fifteen years old, only a few years older than Peter. So, they took the twins back with them to New York. Bruce told them about a school for mutants that might be able to teach them how to control their powers and also offered to let them stay at the tower and train with the avengers to learn how to control their powers. After much deliberation, the twins agreed.

Peter was waiting for them when they got back and was surprised to see teenagers. The twins were surprised too.

“Does he have powers too?” Wanda asked.

“No, this is my son, Peter. Peter, this is Wanda and Pietro Maxinoff.” Tony introduced.

Peter went up to them with a smile. “Hi! I’m Peter, oh Dad already said that. Oops. How old are you guys? You sound European, where are you from?”

Peter always babbled when he was nervous and excited and the twins seemed to relax at the kid’s excitement. Pietro took to answering the questions while Wanda smiled and occasionally added something to Pietro’s answers. Bruce looked over at Natasha with a smug smirk, she hadn’t thought they’d get along with Peter while Bruce had been sure they’d all be friends. 

By the end of the week the Maxinoff twins had their rooms decorated and were hanging out with Peter’s friends. Michelle and Wanda immediately bonded over their shared sense of humor and Ned wasted no time challenge Pietro to a game of Mario Kart that ended in accusations of cheating. The twins were enrolled in school online, as everyone agreed it was important for the twins to continue their education along with training their powers, not one was more important than the other.

Two months after Peter’s thirteenth birthday, after years of searching, James “Bucky” Barnes was found, but not the way anyone expected. One morning Tony walked into their living room and there he was. Bucky’s hair was down to his mid chest and it was stringy, greasy and disgusting. He had large bags under his eyes and he was thin, too thin.

“Anthony Stark, Howard’s son.” He croaked.

“James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.” Tony greeted.

“I… have hurt so many people and I’ve run from what I’ve done, but I’m not running anymore. You can kill me and if you do, I will not blame you.” Bucky said softly.

“I’m not going to kill you!” Tony exclaimed in horror before groaning. “Fuck, it’s too early for this. I haven’t even had coffee yet.” 

Bucky just blinked owlishly. Tony sighed dramatically.

“Come with me, we’re going to the kitchen and gonna have breakfast.”

Bucky followed Tony to the kitchen and they ate breakfast. Sipping his coffee, Tony announced his plan.

“I’m not going to kill you, I’m going to help you get better. Than you can decide to do whatever you want.”

Bruce was alerted about their visitor and the two scientists contacted Doctor Helen Cho, who agreed to come see Bucky and would recommend a psychologist. Steve damn near had a heart attack when he saw Bucky. Bucky seemed numb to all the planning around him but smiled softly at Steve and tried to make conversation.

They got things set up. Bucky has a room and after Helen Cho visited, a psychologist that would help him deal with what happened to him. Bruce, Natasha and Pepper handled all the legal situations and by the end of the week the President was trying to get in contact with Bucky to award him, as he is the longest surviving prisoner of war. Bucky didn’t want anything to do with it and made sure Pepper let the president know Bucky wanted to be left alone. The teens in the tower were fascinated by Bucky and Bucky was scared to be around them.

“They’re so young and little, I don’t want to hurt them.” Bucky had said to Steve in a panic.

“You’re great with kids. Your little sisters loved you like crazy. You won’t hurt them, I promise.” Steve had reassured his friend.

On the topic of Bucky’s sisters, one was still alive. Rebecca Barnes-Proctor was 89 years old and had been informed by Natasha that her older brother was alive. She wanted to see him and Bucky wanted to see her, but he was scared to. He didn’t want to be a let down and he was scared to see people outside of the ones running in and out of the tower.

It took a long time, but eventually Bucky started talking to his sister, first in letters than in person. He worked on leaving the tower and doing normal things. He made friends with Clint, Bruce, Tony and Sam and rekindled his friendship with Steve. He got better about being around Peter, Wanda and Pietro but he still hid from Ned and Michelle.

The day of Peter’s fourteenth birthday came at a time of peace. Steve made birthday pancakes for Peter that Clint kept playfully trying to steal. Peter spent the morning surrounded by his family and he Avengers and their new recruits, who he considers family. That afternoon Ned and Michelle came over to play video games. They had a feast for dinner and then cake. Peter opened his gifts: he got a science kit from Bruce, a new LEGO set from Ned, video games from Michelle, a new camera from Pepper, film and a book on old school photography from Wanda, a Star Wars T-shirt From Pietro, a scrapbook full of memories from Bruce and Clint, a painting of Tony, Pepper and Peter from Steve, a knitted blanket from Bucky he made himself, video games from Natasha and a robot building kit from Tony.

“This is awesome! Thank you!” Peter cried, giving each person a hug after opening their gift.

They finished off the cake and the two kids went home. The rest watched a movie in the living room, Peter sitting between his parents contently. Life was a little crazy, but good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who want more of this trope in my writing, fear not! I have a sequel in the works and I'm going to make this a series.


End file.
